Fractical  Ripers 
on  ParishProblems 

\v^A.Grariger 


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MAR  lo  1920 


A 


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BV  652  .G7 

Granger,  William  Alexander, 

1850-1922. 
Practical  papers  on  parish 

Droblems 


PRACTICAL  PAPERS 

ON 

PARISH  PROBLEMS 


PRACTICAL    PAPERS 

ON 


PARISH    PROBLEMS 


/By 
W.  A.  GRANGER,  D.  D. 


MAR  J-ci  192 


PHILADELPHIA 


THE    JUDSON    PRESS 

BOSTON  CHICAGO  ST.  LOUIS         NEW  YORK 

LOS  ANGELES  KANSAS  CITY  SEATTLE  TORONTO 


Copyright,  1919,  by 
GILBERT  N.  BRINK,  Secretary 

Published  July,  1919 


TO 


WHO   FOR    MORE   THAN    FORTY   YEARS 

HAS   SHARED    IN   A   SYMPATHETIC 

AND    HELPFUL   WAY 

ALL   MY   TOILS   AND   TRIUMPHS   WITHOUT 

EVER   NEGLECTING    HER    DUTIES   AS   A 

WIFE   AND    MOTHER 

THIS   VOLUME    IS    DEDICATED 


FOREWORD 

This  book  will  prove  immensely  valuable 
to  pastors  and  to  Christian  workers  of  every 
class.  The  author  has  been  for  eleven  years 
the  honored  president  of  the  New  York  Bap- 
tist State  Convention,  and  has  a  remarkably 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  churches  that  con- 
stitute the  Convention.  These  churches 
number  nearly  a  thousand,  city  and  country, 
big  and  little,  rich  and  poor.  In  all  of  them 
Doctor  Granger  is  at  home,  and  in  many  of 
them  he  is  counted  a  valuable  counselor. 
Before  entering  this  general  work,  the  au- 
thor served  city  and  country  churches  with 
marked  ability  and  preeminent  success.  No 
living  man  has  a  profounder  interest  in  our 
church  life  or  a  keener  appreciation  of  our 
problems  than  the  author  of  this  book. 

This  is  not  a  volume  of  dry  statistics,  nor 
a  scientific  survey  of  church  conditions.  It 
is  a  volume  of  charmingly  written  articles 
full  of  common  sense  and  sage  philosophy. 


Foreword 


Keen  analysis,  wide  observation,  and  a  re- 
markable memory  for  interesting  facts  are 
everywhere  evident.  The  author  has 
thought  through  many  of  our  difficulties  and 
problems,  and  here,  in  a  fresh  and  interest- 
ing way,  he  gives  us  his  conclusions.  The 
book  will  be  delightful  and  stimulating  read- 
ing to  Christian  workers  "  in  harness,"  and 
it  is  finely  adapted  to  the  needs  of  theological 
students  who  are  soon  to  put  on  "  the  har- 
ness." It  might  well  be  studied  in  the  class- 
rooms of  every  seminary  in  America. 

Several  chapters  of  this  book  appeared 
as  articles  in  ''  The  Watchman-Examiner." 
The  eagerness  with  which  they  were  read 
suggested  the  publication  of  the  book.  Re- 
written and  enlarged,  these  articles  have  now 
been  put  into  permanent  form,  and  others 
of  equal  value  have  been  added.  The  book 
is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  literature  of 
Christian  service. 

Curtis  Lee  Laws. 

New  York,  June,  1919. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

I.  The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of 

HIS  Church i 

II.  The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of 

his  Church  (Continued)  ...      19 

III.  The  People  a  Factor  in  the 

Problem 33 

IV.  Evangelism 45 

V.  The  Prayer-m  feting  and 
Why  it  Ought  to  be  Mag- 
nified      73 

VI.  How  TO  Magnify  the  Prayer- 
meeting 85 

VII.  Dangerous  Sunday  School 

Tendencies 97 

VIII.  The  Country  Church  Once 

More 107 


Contents 


Page 

IX.  That  Country  Boy  Again.  . .   129 

X.  Causes  of  Weakness  and  In- 
efficiency in  the  Churches  145 

XL  The  Aged  and  Infirm  Minis- 
ter     161 

XII.  Our  New  York   State   Mis- 
sionary Convention 183 

XIII.  The   Stranger  Within   Our 

Gates. 203 


THE  PASTOR  AS  THE  LEADER 
OF  HIS  CHURCH 


THE  PASTOR  AS  THE  LEADER 
OF  HIS  CHURCH 


Let  it  clearly  be  understood  at  the  out- 
set that  anything  I  may  say  about  a  human 
leadership  presupposes  that  of  the  divine. 
When  Constantine  was  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  his  magnificent  capital  on  the  shores 
of  the  Bosporus,  he  met  the  criticism  of 
his  adversaries  because  of  his  vast  expendi- 
ture by  the  declaration  that  he  was  follow- 
ing One  who  was  leading  him. 

Every  man  attempting  to  lead  a  church 
should  be  conscious  of  this  higher  leading. 
In  nearly  all  of  our  conferences  on  "  rural 
life  "  the  speakers  begin  with  the  assumption 
that  the  country  church  is  a  failure.  Some 
country  churches  are,  and  so  are  some  in 
towns  and  cities.  Many  of  them  are  not, 
but  are  grandly  fulfilling  their  mission  to 
their  community  and  the  world.  In  the  long 
run,  whether  in  city,  town,  or  country,  it  is 
a  question  of  leadership,  and  wherever  a 
church  is  "  going  "  and  "  doing  its  bit,"  it 
is  because  a  man  of  leadership  is  in  the  pul- 
pit, *'  a  round  peg  in  a  round  hole,  not  a 

[3] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

square  peg  in  a  round  hole,"  as  Sidney 
Smith  used  to  say.  Mark  Twain  in  his  last 
days  wrote  a  personal  friend,  saying, 
"  There  is  not  an  orphan  in  all  this  world 
as  lonely  as  I,  a  wretched  old  derelict,  drift- 
ing on  the  wasting  seas  of  human  life  with 
nobody  on  the  bridge  " — a  picture  of  too 
many  churches,  "  derelicts  with  nobody  on 
the  bridge."  Now  I  insist  that  the  pastor 
should  lead,  "  be  on  the  bridge,"  and  I  am 
emphasizing  this  point  in  the  hope  that  there 
will  be  a  fuller  assumption  of  such  leader- 
ship on  the  part  of  those  in  the  pulpit,  and 
a  fuller  recognition  of  its  right  on  the  part 
of  those  in  the  pew.  He  should  not  only 
lead,  but  he  should  have,  in  his  own  mind 
at  least,  a  carefully  thought-out,  clear-cut 
plan  for  the  whole  work  of  the  church.  Of 
course,  such  a  plan  should  not  be  completed 
or  announced  without  consultation  with 
those  active  in  the  various  departments,  but 
this  plan  should  be  all-inclusive.  It  has  al- 
ways been  my  own  custom  to  be  in  the 
Sunday  School  of  my  church,  as  a  factor ;  if 
not  as  superintendent,  teacher,  or  substitute, 
then  to  make  announcements  and  the  open- 
ing or  closing  prayer,  so  as  to  keep  in  evi- 
dence, to  know,  and  to  be  known  by,  every- 
body there.  The  same  was  practically  true 
of  all  the  organizations  in  the  church.    After 

[4] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

getting  himself  elected  as  superintendent, 
an  ambitious  man  informed  me  that  I  need 
not  feel  that  I  must  always  be  in  the  school. 
I  thanked  him  for  his  thoughtfulness  of 
me,  told  him  what  the  habit  of  my  ministry 
had  been,  and  that  I  had  no  idea  of  chang- 
ing it.  I  was  not  going  to  be  ruled  out  of 
one  great  sphere  of  my  influence,  nor  dis- 
placed in  my  leadership,  by  any  such 
method.  Moreover  the  churches  are  look- 
ing for  leaders,  men  who  can  make  a  policy 
and  carry  it  out.  Frequently  pulpit  com- 
mittees write  me,  saying,  "  We  want  more 
than  a  preacher,  we  want  a  leader,"  and  in 
the  average  church  they  long  to  feel  them- 
selves in  the  grip  of  a  strong,  masterful 
man,  if  they  know  where  he  is  going.  Now 
let  me  name  some  of  the  lines  along  which 
this  leadership  is  to  be  exercised. 

I.  In  his  People's  Religious  Thinking, 
their  thinking  in  the  realm  of  religious 
truth.  But  is  not  all  truth  religious? 
Hardly.  All  truth  is  important,  but  not 
equally  important  to  the  development  of 
religious  life.  Mathematical  truth  is  ex- 
ceedingly important,  perhaps  even  religious 
for  my  old  instructor  in  Colgate,  but  posi- 
tively irreligious  for  some  of  his  pupils,  and 
I  recall  some  who  nearly  lost  their  religion 
in  his  classroom.     Jesse  B.  Thomas  once 

[5] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

said  in  our  conference  that  a  minister  of 
the  gospel  in  our  day  ought  to  "  meddle 
with  all  knowledge,"  venture  into  every 
realm  of  truth.  For  a  man  of  his  mental 
make-up  that  may  be  possible,  but  not  for 
the  average  man.  It  is  expected,  however, 
that  the  minister  will  be  an  authority  in  one 
realm,  that  of  religion,  and  that  he  will 
compel  thinking  there.  Not  that  undue  em- 
phasis should  be  placed  on  the  intellectual 
side  of  his  work,  for  ''  The  influence  of  the 
pulpit  with  the  cultivated  classes,"  says  a 
distinguished  theological  professor,  "  is 
preeminently  a  religious  influence,  the  in- 
fluence of  the  man,  his  character,  his  devo- 
tional spirit,  his  self-forgetfulness,  and  his 
eminence  in  all  the  clerical  graces."  The 
most  intelligent  and  cultivated  hearers 
therefore  are  those  who  most  heartily  en- 
joy the  simplest  preaching.  Mr.  Webster 
complained  in  his  day  that  much  of  the 
preaching  was  ''  too  great  a  strain  upon  the 
intellect  to  be  sympathetic  with  the  spirit 
of  worship."  In  the  house  of  God  he 
wanted  to  meditate  not  upon  mysteries  and 
abstractions,  but  upon  the  simple  verities 
and  undoubted  facts  of  our  religion.  In 
other  words,  the  preacher's  appeal  should 
not  be  to  the  intellect  alone,  but  to  that 
which  is  common  to  all  men,  the  religious 

[6] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

nature.  In  harmony  with  that  thought, 
Austin  Phelps  declared  that  the  pulpit  must 
find  its  standing-place  in  the  lowlands  of 
society  or  nowhere,  and  that  an  exclusive 
pulpit,  one  that  aims  to  minister  only  to  a 
class,  is  always  a  weak  pulpit.  What  about 
the  professional  men,  the  "  top-heads  "  of 
your  congregation,  some  one  inquired  of 
Mr.  Beecher;  ought  not  the  preacher  to 
keep  them  especially  in  mind?  *'  Suit  your 
message  to  the  lowly  and  you  will  touch  all 
above  them,"  was  his  prompt  reply.  That 
was  the  Master's  way,  he  contended,  and 
thus  illustrated  it,  "If  you  want  to  raise 
a  barn,  you  do  not  put  your  jack-screw  up 
under  the  side-plate,  or  when  you  turn  the 
lever  you  lift  only  the  roof,  but  you  put  the 
screw  down  under  the  sill,  and  then  when 
you  turn  the  lever^  you  lift  the  sill  and 
everything  above  it."  So  "  Jesus  was  made 
flesh  and  dwelt  among  men,"  on  the  lowest 
level  of  life,  and  when  he  raised  himself  up, 
he  lifted  all  men  with  him.  Ultimately  the 
educated  classes  honor  and  even  follow  after 
the  preacher  who  has  this  power  of  appeal 
to  the  "  common  man."  The  nobility  of 
England  ran  after  Whitefield  when  they  dis- 
covered that  the  "  million-hearted  common 
people  heard  him  gladly."  When  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, rather  shabbily  attired,  went  to  Wash- 

B  [7] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

ington  for  his  first  inauguration,  "  polite 
society  "  there  sneered  at  him  as  a  "  hay- 
seed from  the  West,"  but  when  Lloyd 
George,  England's  new  premier,  goes  into, 
the  House  of  Parliament  to  make  an  ad- 
dress that  all  the  world  is  waiting  to  hear,l 
he  begins  it  with  a  quotation  from  Lincoln. 
"  The  rail-splitter  "  at  last  has  "  come  to  his 
own."  He  has  compelled  the  admiration 
of  the  learned  and  the  wise,  because  he  had 
already  captivated  the  heart  of  the  common 
man.  He  is  nearly  as  well  known  in  Japan 
as  in  our  own  land.  His  portrait  hangs  on 
the  walls  of  all  their  public  schools.  Billy 
Sunday  is  having  a  similar  experience  while 
yet  alive.  Three  years  ago  there  was  strong 
opposition  on  the  part  of  some  leading 
ministers  to  a  proposition  inviting  him  to 
New  York.  Finally  he  came  on  practically 
a  unanimous  invitation.  Austin  Phelps  in- 
sists that  the  clamorers  for  sensationalism 
in  the  pulpit  are  those  who  know  the  least 
about  good  preaching,  and  are  the  poorest 
judges  of  it  when  they  hear  it.  A  man  who 
had  for  years  been  in  the  congregation 
of  the  most  sensational  preacher  in  our  day 
complained  that  he  was  "  not  fed  "  in  a 
prosperous  suburban  church  where  he 
turned  up  later  on.  I  happened  to  cross  the 
sea  with  him  one  summer,  and  when  two 

[8] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

days  out  he  came  to  me  saying :  "  Now  I 
may  be  showing  my  ignorance,  but  I  want 
to  ask  a  question.  The  people  on  this  boat 
are  talking  about  Great  Britain  and  the 
Continent;  what's  the  Continent?"  Think 
of  it !  "  Not  fed !  "  He  is  the  type  of  man 
who  will  be  your  most  caustic  critic.  The 
educated  man  will  be  sympathetic,  for  like 
Webster  he  comes  not  to  be  ministered  to 
along  intellectual  lines,  but  to  receive  a  mes- 
sage for  his  religious  nature.  I  went  to 
speak  on  our  State  work  in  a  church  where 
the  president  of  a  great  university  was  a 
member,  and  felt  relief  when  I  found  he 
was  absent  that  morning,  and  so  expressed 
myself  to  the  pastor.  On  the  way  home, 
the  pastor  assured  me  that  he  had  no  more 
sympathetic,  responsive  hearer  in  that  great 
church  than  the  university  president,  for 
while  he  is  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
teachers  of  philosophy,  he  is  as  simple  as  a 
child  in  his  religious  life,  and  goes  to  church 
expecting  a  message  to  that  part  of  his 
nature.  It  is  along  those  lines  and  in  that 
realm,  the  realm  of  religious  truth  to  which 
all  men  are  responsive,  that  the  minister  is 
to  lead  his  church. 

2.  In  his  People's  Living;  he  must  select 
and  present  the  truth  in  such  a  way  as  to 
develop  their  religious  lives.     And  nothing 

[9] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

will  so  stimulate  their  growth  as  his  own 
life  illustrating  and  enforcing  his  teaching. 
Washington  Gladden  tells  us  he  was  saved 
from  infidelity  in  the  critical  period  of  his 
young  manhood  by  the  consistent  life  of  his 
uncle,  in  whose  home  he  was  spending  the 
winter.  Who  can  estimate  the  influence  of 
that  plain  man's  life  as  exerted  through  the 
ministry  of  Doctor  Gladden  all  these  years? 
A  little  girl  under  examination  by  the  dea- 
cons for  church-membership,  when  asked 
"  under  whose  preaching "  she  was  con- 
verted, said,  *'  Under  nobody's  preaching, 
but  under  Aunt  Mary's  practice."  When 
William  M.  Tweed  was  being  called  to  ac- 
count for  his  grafting  activities  in  New 
York,  he  sneered  at  his  prosecutors,  but 
when  Thomas  Nast  began  to  publish  his 
cartoons  in  "  Harper's  Weekly,"  he  soon 
cowered,  and  calling  his  Tammany  leaders 
together  said :  ''  Gentlemen,  them  pictures 
must  be  stopped.  I  don't  care  what  they 
write  about  me,  for  the  larger  part  of  my 
constituency  can't  read,  but  them  pictures 
all  can  read."  What  men  see  impresses 
them  as  deeply  as  anything  they  hear.  Then 
many  see  and  are  influenced  by  the  life  a 
man  lives,  who  never  enter  a  church  and 
therefore  do  not  hear  him  preach.  In  great 
cities    this   influence    is   not   what    it   was 

[10] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

formerly,  for  often  the  man  is  lost  in  the 
multitude.  For  a  hundred  years,  old 
Trinity  was  the  most  conspicuous  landmark 
in  down-town  New  York.  Now  it  is  lost  in 
the  great  forest  of  business  buildings,  an 
illustration  of  how  the  material  dominates 
the  spiritual  in  our  day,  but  in  the  rural 
regions  the  every-day  life  of  the  minister  is 
as  potent  in  its  influence  as  ever.  Joseph 
Henry  Crooker,  in  his  ''  Church  of  To-day," 
gives  this  concrete  illustration.  A  man  who 
had  been  pastor  of  a  village  church  for 
nearly  twenty  years  felt  that  a  change  might 
be  better  for  him  and  the  church,  so  he  sud- 
denly resigned.  The  next  morning  one  of 
his  official  members  was  in  a  place  of  busi- 
ness in  that  town  when  the  pastor  passed  by 
the  window,  and  the  merchant  spoke  of  his 
resignation  and  expressed  great  regret. 
"  But  you  were  never  in  our  church,"  said 
the  official ;  "  how  can  it  affect  you  ?  "  "  No, 
I  never  heard  him  preach,"  the  man  replied, 
"  but  every  time  he  passes  that  window  every 
good  impulse  in  me  gets  mightily  strength- 
ened, and  I  am  sorry  he  is  going."  In  the 
open  country  and  in  the  village,  the  preach- 
er's influence,  like  Peter's  shadow,  falls  on 
men,  and  it  blesses  or  blights  them  according 
to  the  character  of  the  man. 

3.  In  his  People's  Giving,  their  steward- 

[II] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

ship  before  God.  Perhaps  here  we  preach- 
ers have  failed  as  nowhere  else.  Why  do  so 
many  of  our  churches  and  missionary  So- 
cieties come  down  to  the  end  of  their  fiscal 
year  with  deficits?  The  people  have  the 
money,  they  never  had  so  much,  and  the 
scale  of  their  living  shows  it,  but  they  have 
not  been  trained  to  give.  Has  not  the 
leader,  the  man  in  the  pulpit,  been  at  fault 
here  ?  I  was  holding  a  conference  in  an  up- 
State  church,  where  I  was  urging  the  im- 
portance of  a  better  financial  system  and 
the  pastor's  responsibility  for  it.  The  pas- 
tor of  that  church,  a  personal  friend  of 
mine,  seemed  troubled  as  I  went  on.  At  the 
close  of  the  conference  some  of  his  officials 
thanked  me  for  coming,  my  message  had 
been  just  what  was  needed  there,  for  while 
their  pastor's  salary  was  above  that  of  the 
average  member  of  the  church,  he  contrib- 
uted nothing  regularly  for  the  support  of 
the  church,  nor  was  he  any  help  to  them 
in  their  financial  problems.  When  Napo- 
leon was  returning  from  his  Egyptian  cam- 
paign, he  issued  an  order  that  all  well  men 
should  walk,  only  the  sick  and  wounded 
could  ride.  The  next  morning  at  the  time 
set  for  breaking  camp,  his  orderly  notified 
him  that  the  "  little  gray  mare  "  was  saddled 
and  bridled,  ready  for  him  to  mount,  and 

[12] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

he  smote  the  orderly  in  the  face,  saying: 
"  Fool,  did  not  I  say  that  the  well  should 
walk?  I  lead."  So  the  pastor  must  lead  in 
the  giving  as  well  as  in  the  thinking  and  the 
living.  ''  But  is  the  pastor  of  a  church  to 
dabble  in  money  matters?"  Call  it  what 
you  like,  but  the  thing  must  be  done,  and  if 
no  one  else  can  or  will  do  it,  then  he  must. 
I  am  not  insisting  that  he  must  do  every- 
thing, but  he  must  get  things  done.  Any- 
how the  people  must  be  made  to  understand 
that  the  giving  of  money  is  as  religious  as 
praying  and  preaching,  and  they  will  never 
come  to  the  full  measure  of  their  power  till 
that  lesson  is  learned.  It  is  not  enough  for 
him  to  urge  giving  upon  them,  he  too  must 
give,  here  as  elsewhere  his  own  example 
must  enforce  his  teaching.  John  Willis  Baer 
was  having  a  frolic  with  his  little  boy  on 
Sunday  afternoon,  when  a  nickel  fell  out  of 
the  boy's  pocket,  the  one  given  him  by  his 
mother  for  Sunday  School.  When  called 
to  account  he  explained  his  neglect  to  put 
in  his  money  by  the  way  in  which  the  offer- 
ing was  taken.  One  pupil  held  the  basket 
while  the  others  marched  to  music,  dropping 
in  their  coins  as  they  went.  He  held  the 
basket  that  day.  Too  many  of  us  hold  the 
basket,  make  occasions  for  others  to  give, 
but  fail  to  give  anything  ourselves. 

[13] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

4.  In  his  People's  Attitude  toward  the 
Reforms  of  the  Day.  These  movements, 
wise  or  otherwise,  are  increasing  with 
alarming  rapidity.  Pastors  are  often  be- 
wildered at  the  appeals  or  demands  made 
in  connection  with  them.  One  Sunday 
morning,  an  hour  or  two  before  service,  the 
critical  time  in  all  the  week,  my  door-bell 
rang,  and  a  woman  announced  that  the 
Lord  had  sent  her  there  with  a  message  for 
my  people.  I  had  tried  to  be  open  to  the 
influence  of  the  Spirit  during  the  week,  and 
felt  that  I  had  a  message  for  them  myself, 
and  so  informed  her.  She  went  to  another 
pastor  with  the  same  story,  and  he  opened 
his  pulpit  to  her.  Incidentally  in  her  address 
there  she  paid  her  respects  to  me,  and  gave 
me  six  months  to  stay  in  the  town.  In  three 
months  I  was  called  to  a  field  with  much 
larger  opportunities  on  double  the  salary, 
because  of  my  supposed  leadership.  Unless 
you  are  obedient  to  the  beck  and  call  of  those 
active  in  these  movements,  they  are  ready 
to  discredit,  possibly  unseat  you.  What  now 
should  be  the  pastor's  attitude  toward  them  ? 
One  of  friendliness,  as  far  as  possible  and 
consistent.  Under  no  circumstances  must 
he  allow  his  attitude  toward  any  real  reform 
to  be  misinterpreted.  Aim  to  do  for  them 
what  the  sun  does  for  the  storm-cloud  that 

[14] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

has  passed  by  on  a  summer  afternoon — 
spiritualize,  touch  up  with  glory  and  beauty. 
While  important  and  needful,  all  these 
movements  are  incidental  and  subordinate  to 
the  one  great  end  for  which  the  church 
exists  and  which  may  be  lost  sight  of.  An 
Adirondack  hunter  informs  me  that  when 
a  hound  is  put  on  the  track  of  a  deer  he 
cannot  always  be  relied  upon  to  keep  the 
trail.  Coming  to  a  place  where  a  trail  has 
been  crossed  by  a  bear,  he  follows  that  till  it 
in  turn  has  been  crossed  by  a  fox  or  a  coon, 
and  he  goes  off  after  them.  Follow  him  far 
enough,  and  you  are  likely  to  find  the  dog 
barking  in  a  common  rat-hole.  Brethren,  let 
us  not  be  found  barking  in  common  rat- 
holes.  It  is  high  and  noble  work  to  which 
we  are  called,  and  God  forbid  that  we  should 
lose  sight  of  it. 

5.  In  Redeeming  and  Saving  Men;  and 
Doctor  Jefferson  declares  that  to  be  the 
primal  work  of  the  church.  ^'  As  the  Fa- 
ther hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you,"  and 
this  end  is  to  be  secured  through  individual 
men.  In  an  evangelistic  effort  in  New  York, 
Justin  D.  Fulton  once  said,  "  You  are  not 
going  to  save  New  York  by  the  job."  A 
lot  is  being  written  in  our  day  about  the 
"  larger  vision "  by  men  who  are  utterly 
oblivious  to  the  great  needs  of  individual 

[15] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

men  everywhere  about  them.  Visionary 
men!  Paul  and  Silas,  obedient  to  a  vision 
in  the  night  at  Troas,  went  over  into  Mace- 
donia, ''  assuredly  gathering  that  the  Lord 
had  called  them  for  to  preach  the  gospel 
unto  them."  That  was  the  first  step  in  the 
evangelization  of  Europe,  and  the  movement 
was  inaugurated  through  Lydia,  the  woman 
whose  "  heart  the  Lord  opened "  at  the 
praying-place  in  Philippi,  "  that  she  attended 
unto  the  things  which  were  spoken  to  Paul." 
Jesus  finally  spoke  of  his  work  as  ''  finished." 
Washington  Allston  spent  twelve  years  at- 
tempting to  paint  the  scene  of  Belshazzar's 
Feast,  and  then  died  and  left  his  work  un- 
finished. The  chief  difiiculty,  one  which  his 
genius  could  not  overcome,  was  that  of  de- 
picting the  look  of  despair  on  the  face  of  the 
doomed  king.  Raphael  died  at  thirty-seven 
and  left  the  "  Transfiguration,"  his  master- 
piece, to  be  finished  by  the  hand  of  another. 
When  his  body  was  laid  out  in  state  in  the 
Pantheon,  with  the  unfinished  picture  hung 
on  the  wall  back  of  the  casket,  the  Roman 
people  came  and  looked  into  his  face,  then 
at  the  unfinished  picture,  and  "  wept  as  if 
their  hearts  would  break."  These  men  left 
their  work  unfinished,  and  we  shall  leave 
ours  unfinished,  unless  we  find  out  what  our 
work  really  is  and  give  ourselves  in  utter 

[i6] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

consecration  to  it.  In  the  Louvre,  I  saw  a 
picture  of  a  monk,  sitting  at  a  desk,  writing 
with  a  fiery  enthusiasm.  The  artist's  con- 
ception was  that  in  this  life  the  monk  had 
been  lazy  and  shiftless,  and  now  death  had 
let  him  go  back  to  toil  at  his  unfinished  task. 
A  beautiful  thought  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  artist,  but  scripturally  untrue,  for  death 
never  lets  us  go  back  in  that  way.  "  What- 
soever thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with 
thy  might,  for  there  is  no  work,  nor  device, 
nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom,  in  the  grave, 
whither  thou  goest."  ''  With  thy  might  " 
and  "  now  "  is  the  spirit  of  biblical  teaching. 
Nor  are  we  alone  in  the  great  task.  There 
is  a  beautiful  legend  connected  with  the 
building  of  an  old  church  in  England. 
When  the  monks  were  nearing  its  comple- 
tion there  appeared  among  them  a  strange 
monk  who  always  took  upon  himself  the 
heaviest  tasks;  and  at  last,  when  lifting  a 
gigantic  beam  into  place,  a  beam  as  impor- 
tant to  the  building  as  the  keystone  to  the 
arch,  they  were  appalled  to  find  they  had 
been  mistaken  in  their  calculations,  for  it 
was  several  feet  too  short.  No  device  of 
the  builders  could  remedy  it.  The  night 
came  on  and  they  went  to  their  rest  with 
sad  and  weary  hearts,  but  when  morning 
came  they  found  the  beam  lengthened  and  in 

[17] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

its  place.  The  unknown  monk  had  disap- 
peared, but  now  they  knew  that  he  who  had 
been  among  them,  supplying  their  lack,  was 
none  other  than  the  Lord  himself.  They 
were  not  alone  in  their  task,  nor  are  we. 
"  I  am  with  you  always,"  and  it  is  our  privi- 
lege to  say  with  the  apostle,  "  I  can  do  all 
things  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth 
me."  Conscious  of  such  a  divine  Compan- 
ion, we  cannot  fail  in  our  leadership. 


[i8] 


II 


THE  PASTOR  AS  THE  LEADER 
OF  HIS  CHURCH  (Continued) 


THE  PASTOR  AS  THE  LEADER 
OF  HIS  CHURCH  (Continued) 


The  substance  of  Chapter  I,  in  the  form 
of  an  address,  was  given  to  a  company  of 
ministers  in  Brooklyn  and  at  their  request 
was  printed  in  an  issue  of  ''  The  Watchman- 
Examiner."  Men  over  the  State  wrote  me 
commending  the  positions  taken  and  asked 
for  a  fuller  elaboration  of  the  points  made. 
In  some  cases  the  questions  asked  indicated 
a  desire  for  light  on  problems  incidental  to 
their  own  fields.  While  full  information 
cannot  be  given  without  a  knowledge  of  all 
the  conditions,  a  general  reply  can  be  made 
to  the  questions  raised.  With  that  end  in 
view  the  second  chapter  under  the  same  title 
has  been  written. 

It  ought  to  be  clearly  understood  that 
what  I  am  urging  is  that  the  pastor  should  be 
a  leader,  not  a  ''  boss  "  in  the  sense  in  which 
that  term  is  used  in  political  life.  Too  often 
I  fear  men  are  ambitious  to  be  bosses  or 
dictators,  and  fail,  as  they  ought  to  fail. 
By  a  leader  I  mean  one  fitted  by  force  of 
ideas,    by   character   and   consecration,    by 

[21] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

genius  and  administrative  ability  to  arouse, 
to  incite,  and  to  direct  his  fellowmen  in  up- 
right living  and  noble  endeavor.  To  such 
a  leadership,  exercised  along  such  lines,  I 
am  urging  men  in  our  pulpits  to  aspire,  and 
I  urge  the  people  in  the  pews  to  recognize 
and  follow  it.  It  goes  without  saying  that 
such  leadership  cannot  always  be  gotten 
merely  for  the  asking,  nor  is  it  wise  for  a 
man  simply  because  he  is  in  the  pulpit  to 
demand  it  imperiously.  Indeed,  it  cannot 
always  be  won  in  a  month  or  even  in  a  year. 
If  it  comes  at  all  to  a  pastor,  it  comes  be- 
cause the  people  in  the  pews  see  that  he  is 
worthy  of  it  on  account  of  his  loyalty  to 
the  Great  Leader  and  because  of  his  utter 
consecration  to  all  the  interests  of  the  cause 
to  which  he  and  they  profess  to  have  given 
themselves. 

"  But  suppose  when  entering  on  a  pastor- 
ate you  find  a  layman  in  the  saddle,  what 
would  you  do  ?  "  I  cannot  tell  beforehand 
just  what  I  would  do  in  any  particular  place, 
for  my  rule  in  life  has  been  not  to  cross 
bridges  until  I  come  to  them.  Coming  to  such 
a  situation,  I  should  depend  upon  the  highest 
wisdom  given  me  in  that  hour  for  that  task. 
''  Don't  worry,  it  may  never  happen,"  is  the 
suggestive  motto  I  have  seen  hanging  in 
some  business  places  lately.     But  without 

[22] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

any  hesitation  I  can  say  that  I  should  be  slow 
to  interfere  with  the  layman's  leadership. 
Your  predecessors  may  have  been  singularly 
lacking  in  the  qualities  looked  for  in  lead- 
ers, and  he  may  have  come  to  his  position, 
not  by  his  own  will  or  choice,  but  by  the 
force  of  circumstances — possibly  he  may 
have  saved  the  cause  there.  If  dominated 
by  the  Master's  spirit,  he  may  be  ready  to 
turn  over  the  responsibility  as  soon  as  he 
discovers  your  fitness  for  it.  I  have  in  mind 
such  men  and  such  conditions  now. 

*'  But  if  he  is  an  ambitious,  narrow- 
minded,  wilful  man,  what  then?"  Even 
then,  be  careful  not  to,  antagonize  him.  If 
after  prayerful  consideration  you  conclude 
that  the  interests  of  the  cause  demand  his 
elimination,  keep  the  decision  under  "  your 
own  hat,"  for  if  it  gets  out  his  antagonism 
will  be  aroused,  his  friends  will  be  rallied, 
and  you  may  as  well  "  fold  your  tent  like 
the  Arab  and  silently  steal  away."  If  he  is 
not  positively  bad,  take  him  into  your  con- 
fidence, and  later  on  you  may  find  him  re- 
sponding to  your  treatment,  perhaps  falling 
in  with  your  plan  and  carrying  it  out.  Any 
plan  of  yours  should  be  elastic  enough  to 
provide  for  that  very  thing.  Many  years 
ago  I  was  taken  by  a  friend  down  on  Staten 
Island  to  see  "  Bufifalo  Bill's  Great  Wild 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

West  Show,"  a  mammoth  outdoor  perform- 
ance. In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  I  was 
amused  and  interested  to  see  a  man  strug- 
gling for  the  management  of  a  jackass.  The 
animal  was  wilful  and  stubbornly  refused  to 
follow  the  leading.  Finally  a  third  party 
appeared  on  the  scene,  pulled  down  one  of 
the  donkey's  long  ears,  and  whispered  into 
it.  At  once  the  beast  was  perfectly  sub- 
missive to  him.  I  said  to  myself.  Here  is  a 
lesson;  get  confidential  with  even  a  jackass, 
and  you  can  manage  him.  I  have  often  re- 
called and  had  use  for  that  lesson.  Breth- 
ren, try  it  on  the  wilful  man  who  contests 
your  leadership.    It  may  work. 

''  But  when  there  is  an  older  element  in 
control  of  all  the  affairs  of  the  church  with 
a  strong  young  element  demanding  recogni- 
tion and  threatening  to  withdraw  altogether 
unless  you  secure  it  for  them,  what  is  to 
be  done?  "  Under  no  circumstances  should 
a  pastor,  even  in  his  own  heart,  admit  that 
such  a  condition  exists,  least  of  all  must  he 
identify  himself  with  one  element  against 
another.  The  writer  was  called  to  a  church 
where  there  had  been  such  serious  conflict 
between  various  elements  for  years  that  the 
church  had  virtually  lost  its  place  in  the 
community.  He  accepted  the  call  in  which 
all  elements  were  factors  with  the  distinct 

[24] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

understanding  that  he  would  not  attempt 
anybody's  vindication,  nor  would  he  justify 
or  condemn  any  events  in  the  past.  His  only 
aim  would  be  to  unify  that  church  and  re- 
store it  to  the  great  place  it  had  so  long  held 
in  that  part  of  the  State.  It  was  the  most 
difficult  and  delicate  task  he  had  ever  under- 
taken. At  the  end  of  six  months,  a  quaint, 
sweet-spirited  little  man,  well  known  and  re- 
spected, arose  in  the  covenant  meeting,  say- 
ing :  ''  I  have  been  watching  the  elder  all  this 
time  to  see  which  way  he  was  going  to  jump, 
but  I  am  now  convinced  that  he  is  not  going 
to  jump,  but  just  going  right  on  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  road.  I  want  him  and  you  to 
know  that  I  am  with  him."  That  state- 
ment called  out  similar  expressions  from 
others  who  had  been  prominent  in  the  con- 
flict, and  from  that  hour  the  pastor's  leader- 
ship was  unquestioned,  and  the  way  was 
clear  for  doing  one  of  the  most  distinctive 
pieces  of  work  in  which  he  had  ever  had  a 
part.  To  have  allowed  himself  to  seem  to 
lean  toward  any  element  would  have  been 
fatal. 

Nothing,  however,  made  his  job  there  so 
hard  as  the  attitude  of  the  pastors  of  other 
churches  in  that  town.  Some  disaffected 
members  of  his  church  had  found  refuge  and 
become  pew-holders  in  theirs,  and  his  sue- 

[25] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

cess  meant  the  possible  loss  of  pew-holders 
to  them.  The  interest  they  felt  in  his  prob- 
lem was  amazing — a  curious  side-light  on  the 
"  interdenominational  comity  "  that  we  hear 
so  much  about  in  our  day.  Brethren,  do  not 
permit  men  in  other  communions  to  coddle 
you  and  prejudice  you  against  those  of  your 
own  by  intimating  that  your  '*  time  is  up, 
and  that  you  are  likely  to  suffer  as  did  your 
predecessors  on  that  field."  Your  predeces- 
sors may  have  been  victims  of  their  own 
folly  and  suffered  only  what  they  deserved. 
Because  other  men  have  failed,  or  because 
a  church's  reputation  is  not  altogether  sa- 
vory, do  not  be  unduly  discouraged,  and  do 
not  too -easily  desert  your  post.  Most  of  all, 
do  not  make  up  your  mind  that  all  men  must 
agree  with  you  in  all  things  all  the  time. 

Two  classes  of  men  are  a  sore  trial  to  a 
pastor — those  who  never  agree  with  him, 
and  those  who  never  disagree  with  him.  It 
is  not  easy  to  say  which  tries  him  most,  for 
while  one  class  is  too  opinionated  and  in- 
tractable, the  other  is  too  thoughtless  and 
uninformed.  In  a  real  sense  the  pastor  is  the 
leader  and  should  be  respected  as  such ;  but 
in  a  sense  just  as  real  the  layman  is  a  fel- 
low-worker whose  counsel  and  advice  should 
be  desired.  The  church  of  Christ  is  not  a 
place  for  dictators,  either  in  the  pulpit  or  in 

[26] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

the  pew.  Information  and  suggestions 
should  be  welcome  from  any  source,  and  in 
all  church  relations  and  management,  de- 
mocracy should  be  preserved. 

Many  years  ago  I  officiated  at  the  funeral 
of  a  man  who  had  lived  for  fifty  years  in 
that  community  and  of  whose  character 
and  influence  there  were  widely  differing 
opinions.  At  the  close  of  the  service  an 
elderly  man,  who  had  long  known  the  de- 
ceased, approached  me,  saying :  "  There  was 
much  curiosity  in  the  town  to  know  what 
you  would  say  about  this  man.  Evidently 
you  have  found  out  that  there  is  often  a  deal 
of  good  wood  in  crooked  sticks."  So  in 
many  a  man  with  whom  we  have  to  deal 
there  is  good  material,  although  it  is  some- 
what unattractive  at  times  and  in  certain 
ways. 

When  Rev.  W.  S.  Clapp  closed  a  pastor- 
ate of  nearly  thirty  years  in  Carmel  I  hap- 
pened to  be  moderator  of  the  Union  Asso- 
ciation in  which  men  and  women  in  all  the 
churches  had  felt  the  influence  of  his  re- 
markable ministry.  When  a  resolution  ap- 
preciative of  his  life  and  labors  had  been 
adopted  at  the  annual  meeting,  he  arose  to 
respond :  "  Brethren,  you  have  been  very 
patient  and  tolerant  of  me  and  my  effort. 
I  have  only  tried  to  do  my  part.     I  have 

[27] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

looked  for  the  best  in  my  fellows,  and  then 
tried  to  build  them  up  along  that  line.  That 
has  been  the  philosophy  of  my  ministry." 
Was  he  not  right?  Failing  to  act  on  that 
principle,  we  are  likely  to  fail  in  our  leader- 
ship. 

There  is  so  much  of  good  in  the  worst  of  us, 
So  much  of  bad  in  the  best  of  us, 
That  it  ill  behooves  any  of  us 
To  talk  about  the  rest  of  us. 

Then  we  ought  not  to  make  "  martyrs  of 
ourselves  for  nothing."  I  have  known  men 
ready  to  sacrifice  themselves  and  their  in- 
fluence for  what  they  contended  was  a  prin- 
ciple where  I  could  not  see  that  any  princi- 
ple was  involved,  but  in  the  last  analysis  it 
was  a  question  of  wilfulness,  a  question  of 
having  their  own  way.  In  many  instances 
it  is  not  a  question  of  principle,  but  one  of 
expediency — ^doing  the  best  for  the  cause 
under  the  circumstances.  There  seems  to 
be  a  warrant  for  that  sort  of  thing  in  the 
New  Testament.  More  than  once  we  find  the 
apostle  Paul  acting  from  expediency.  Cer- 
tainly there  is  room  for  Christian  diplomacy 
in  our  ministry. 

"  But  ought  not  a  man  to  have  back- 
bone ?  "  Yes,  but  he  ought  not  to  go  around 
showing  it  all  the  time.     Men  too  often  use 

[28] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

that  term  without  understanding  the  real 
mechanism  of  a  back-bone.  Made  up  of 
more  than  a  score  of  bones  separated  by  a 
cartilaginous  substance  acting  as  cushions, 
the  back-bone  is  capable  of  yielding  in  multi- 
tudinous ways  without  break  or  injury. 
Some  men's  idea  of  a  back-bone  is  like  that 
of  a  lamp-post.  Men  of  this  idea  fail  to 
secure  or  hold  their  places  as  leaders  because 
they  do  not  know  how  to  yield  gracefully, 
where  no  principle  is  at  stake,  and  let  the 
other  man  have  his  way.  Of  course  there 
are  times  when  a  man  ought  not  to  yield.  A 
great  principle  is  in  the  issue,  and  he  must 
be  adamantine.  Oftener,  however,  it  is  sim- 
ply a  matter  of  method  or  of  expediency,  and 
he  can  get  or  hold  his  position,  carry  the  day, 
by  giving  in  to  his  opponent.  "  A  man  then 
must  sometimes  adapt  himself  to  circum- 
stances and  conditions  ?  "    Assuredly ! 

Standing  with  a  friend  on  London  Bridge 
watching  the  various  types  of  boats  on  the 
Thames,  I  saw  a  little  tugboat  with  a  great 
smoke-stack  approaching,  and  I  saw  at  once 
that  the  spring  of  the  arch  would  not  per- 
mit its  passage  and  so  expressed  myself  to 
the  friend.  "  Never  mind !  the  boat  or 
bridge  are  not  yours  and  why  be  anxious? 
You  are  on  a  vacation."  As  the  tug  neared 
the  bridge,  with  my  anxiety  increasing,  the 

[29] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

smoke-stack  went  down  to  a  horizontal  po- 
sition on  the  deck,  the  boat  passed  under  the 
bridge,  the  stack  rose  up,  and  the  boat  went 
on  its  way  down  the  stream.  There  was  a 
joint  in  the  smoke-stack.  So  we  must  have 
joints  in  our  smoke-stacks,  or  there  will  be 
a  collision,  and  we  shall  go  to  pieces.  Many 
a  man  has  gone  in  this  way. 

''  Shall  a  man  then  trim  his  sails  to  all  the 
winds  that  blow — be  a  creature  of  circum- 
stances ?  "  Nothing  of  the  kind !  There  are 
conditions  to  which  no  man  ought  to  adapt 
himself.  The  conditions  can  be  changed, 
and  he  should  insist  upon  changing  them. 

When  I  was  a  small  boy,  my  father  used  to 
let  me  ride  on  one  of  the  horses  when  plow- 
ing. In  one  of  the  fields  on  his  farm  what  ap- 
peared to  be  a  rock  rose  above  the  surface  of 
the  soil.  As  we  neared  that  rock  I  would  re- 
mind my  father  and  he  would  throw  the 
plow  out  and  guide  it  around  the  rock,  put- 
ting it  in  on  the  other  side.  One  spring 
when  we  were  using  colts  not  fully  broken,  I 
was  slow  in  reminding  him,  and  before  he 
realized  it  the  point  of  the  plow  touched  the 
rock,  the  colts  sprang  into  their  collars  and 
threw  the  stone  clean  out.  It  was  only  a 
boulder.  For  years  we  had  been  plowing 
around  that  boulder,  and  adapting  ourselves 
to  it.  The  first  time  we  tackled  it  we  threw  it 

[30] 


The  Pastor  as  the  Leader  of  His  Church 

out.  For  generations  we  have  been  plowing 
round  certain  social  and  political  evils,  such 
as  the  saloon,  when  we  ought  to  have  girded 
ourselves  and  thrown  them  out.  Some  con- 
ditions we  cannot  change.  The  highest  ex- 
pressions of  the  Divine  Will  concerning  us 
are  sometimes  found  in  the  things  we  cannot 
change — the  inevitable  experiences  of  life. 

The  first  time  I  went  into  the  home  of 
Rev.  A.  W.  Rogers,  of  Schenectady,  and 
sat  down  opposite  his  wife  at  the  tea-table  I 
asked  her  what  I  ask  nearly  all  the  wives  of 
men  who  have  been  at  Colgate,  if  she  was 
a  Hamilton  girl.  "  No,  I  was  a  Schuyler- 
ville  girl,"  she  replied.  "  Schuylerville  is 
where  Burgoyne  surrendered,"  I  said. 
"  Yes,"  and  with  a  twinkle  in  her  eye  as  she 
looked  at  her  husband,  ^'  and  that  is  where 
A.  W.  Rogers  surrendered."  Through  that 
surrender  he  achieved  a  splendid  victory. 

Brethren,  do  not  fail  in  your  leadership 
by  not  knowing  how  to  yield  to  the  other 
party,  especially  where  no  high  and  noble 
principle  is  involved.  Do  not  insist  on  be- 
ing "  martyrs  for  nothing."  Finally,  do 
not  despair  of  leadership.  Looking  back 
through  more  than  forty  years  of  public 
life  I  can  see  that  the  way  has  been  beset 
with  difficulties  which  at  the  time  have 
sorely  tried  my  soul.    Stress  and  storm  and 

[31] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

struggle  have  been  encountered,  and  yet  I 
have  had  a  good  time.  Without  boasting,  I 
can  say  that  I  have  rarely  set  my  heart  on  a 
thing  that  sooner  or  later  has  not  been  mine. 
In  the  long  run  I  have  had  my  way,  but  I 
flatter  myself  that  the  things  on  v^^hich  I 
have  set  my  heart  have  not  been  vain  or 
foolish  things.  They  were  things  that  ap- 
pealed to  the  good  sense  of  the  average  man 
and  woman. 

A  young  man  went  to  a  field  in  New  York 
State  where  man  after  man  for  years  had 
retired  on  the  ground  of  "  insuperable  diffi- 
culties." Inside  of  a  year,  under  his  quiet 
but  persistent  ministry,  the  tide  was  chang- 
ing, and  I  wrote  him  a  letter  of  congratula- 
tion. Replying,  he  said,  "  When  I  arrived 
and  sensed  the  situation,  I  said  to  myself, 
there  will  be  a  revival  in  this  church,  and  I 
will  succeed  on  this  field,  or  there  will  be  a 
funeral  in  the  parsonage." 

Brethren  in  the  ministry,  that  is  the  spirit 
that  gets  and  holds  leadership.  Are  you 
willing  to  pay  the  price  ? 


[32] 


m 


THE  PEOPLE  A  FACTOR  IN  THE 
PROBLEM 


THE  PEOPLE  A  FACTOR  IN  THE 
PROBLEM 


"  Much  every  way  ''  is  a  curious  combina- 
tion of  words  used  by  the  apostle  Paul. 
They  fitly  describe  many  of  the  men  in  our 
pulpits.  They  are  '*  much  "  physically,  in- 
tellectually, socially,  and  spiritually ;  and  yet 
no  man  is  enough  in  any  one  or  all  of  these 
ways  to  do  the  great  work  to  which  he  has 
been  called,  without  the  cooperation  of  his 
people.  I  have  seen  men  who  had  been  con- 
spicuously successful  in  one  section  of  the 
country  called  on  their  record  to  another 
where  they  barely  escaped  failure.  The 
same  man,  the  same  consecration,  the  same 
message,  and  the  same  spirit.  How  can  his 
success  be  accounted  for  in  one  place  when 
he  failed  in  the  other  ?  Only  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  the  cordial  support  of  his  people 
in  one  place,  and  was  left  to  stand  alone  in 
the  other.  No  man  is  big  enough  to  stand 
alone.  His  people  must  be  a  factor  in  the 
problem.  Success  or  failure  is  theirs  as  well 
as  his.  Let  me  note  some  of  the  ways  in 
which  they  can  help  him. 

[35] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

I.  By  Their  Presence  at  the  Services. 
The  thoughtful  pastor  prepares  his  sermons 
with  the  needs  of  the  people  in  his  mind, 
"  giving  each  his  portion  in  due  season." 
When  in  the  seclusion  of  his  study  a  pastor 
has  carefully  prepared  a  sermon  adapted  to 
help  his  people  in  the  circumstances  under 
which  they  are  struggling  to  live  uprightly, 
there  is  nothing  that  so  inspires  and  helps 
him  in  his  utterances  when  he  comes  to  his 
pulpit  on  Sunday  as  to  look  into  the  faces  of 
the  very  persons  he  had  in  mind  when  mak- 
ing it.  There  is  nothing  that  so  handicaps 
and  takes  the  heart  out  of  him  as  to  find 
their  places  vacant. 

Richard  S.  Storrs  began  his  great  career 
in  Brookline,  Massachusetts,  a  suburb  of 
Boston,  in  a  building  erected  for  the  future. 
When  he  went  into  his  pulpit  on  a  Sunday 
morning  to  speak  to  about  one  hundred  per- 
sons in  a  house  built  to  seat  twelve  hundred, 
it  was  "  rather  a  woody  prospect."  "  Young 
gentlemen,"  he  said,  speaking  of  it,  "  there 
is  no  inspiration  in  the  backs  of  pews."  At 
the  end  of  my  first  pastorate  in  Long  Island 
City  I  stated  in  my  farewell  address  that  I 
had  been  a  factor  in  twenty-five  hundred  or 
three  thousand  services  in  the  ten  years  and 
four  months  of  my  ministry  there.  A  dea- 
con came  up  at  the  close  of  the  meeting  and 

[36] 


The  People  a  Factor  in  the  Problem 

informed  me  that  he  had  missed  but  two  of 
them.  Think  of  it!  He  had  heard  nearly 
every  word  that  had  fallen  from  my  lips  in 
all  those  years  and  was  still  living  to  tell  of 
it.  That  man  knew  how  to  help  his  pastor 
by  his  presence.  A  little  later  a  woman  came 
to  remind  me  that  I  had  not  preached  her 
sermon.  Early  in  my  pastorate  she  had 
requested  me  to  speak  some  time  on  the 
"  Transfiguration."  Two  or  three  times  I 
had  spoken  on  that  event,  but  she  had  not 
been  there  to  hear  me.  She  did  not  know 
how  to  help  her  pastor.  Men  and  women  in 
the  churches,  you  can  hardly  realize  how 
helpful  you  can  be  to  your  pastor  by  your 
presence  in  the  sanctuary. 

2.  You  Can  Help  Him  by  Your  Practice, 
the  Life  You  Live.  I  went  to  speak  at  a 
young  people's  convention  in  a  great  barn- 
like country  church.  There  early  I  inquired 
of  the  sexton  about  the  lighting  of  the  place. 
When  the  time  came  he  pulled  down  a  chan- 
delier that  held  six  small  oil  lamps.  I 
doubted  whether  he  could  light  the  room 
with  them,  but  he  insisted  that  I  wait  and 
see.  When  he  lit  the  lamps  and  they  were 
drawn  back  into  place  a  combination  of  re- 
flectors was  so  arranged  in  the  ceiling  as  to 
flood  every  corner  of  the  room  with  light. 
What  those  reflectors  were  back  of  the  little 

[37] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

lamps  the  lives  of  the  people  are  back  of  the 
man  in  the  pulpit.  He  may  be  only  an  ordi- 
nary, tallow-candle  type  of  man,  but  if  they 
illustrate  and  enforce  his  teachings  in  every- 
day life,  they  reduplicate  and  intensify  his 
influence,  flash  the  light  into  the  remotest 
corners  of  the  community. 

We  live  in  an  age  of  illustrated  papers, 
when  men  are  impressed  by  what  they  see 
as  well  as  by  what  they  read  and  hear.  In 
the  last  years  of  his  life  Doctor  Storrs  wrote 
a  great  book  on  "  The  Divine  Origin  of 
Christianity  Judged  by  Its  Historical  Ef- 
fects," a  high-priced  book  of  nearly  a  thou- 
sand pages.  The  average  man  could  not 
afford  to  buy  it,  and  would  not  have  time  to 
read  it,  if  he  could;  but  the  open  book  of 
our  every-day  life  all  men  read,  and  they 
judge  our  religion  accordingly.  After  all, 
the  unanswerable  argument  for  Christianity 
is  not  a  syllogism,  or  a  book,  but  a  consistent, 
consecrated  life. 

A  man  with  the  critical  faculty  alert 
stopped  before  the  windows  of  a  taxidermist 
shop  on  Broadway,  and  began  to  criticize 
the  quality  of  the  work  done  there.  He 
insisted  that  the  owl  on  a  perch  in  the  fore- 
ground was  not  true  to  nature,  because  an 
owl  rarely  stands  on  both  feet,  usually  on 
one,  while  resting  or  warming  the  other. 

[38] 


The  People  a  Factor  in  the  Problem 

Nor  was  the  eye  natural.  Just  then  the  old 
owl  picked  up  one  foot  and  winked  his  eye, 
and  the  man  had  business  down  the  street. 
What  do  I  mean  ?  I  mean  that  the  manifes- 
tation of  life  on  the  part  of  that  owl  lifted 
him  absolutely  out  of  the  realm  of  criticism 
on  the  part  of  that  man.  So,  I  repeat,  the 
unanswerable  argument  for  our  religion  is 
not  a  book,  but  a  symmetrical,  consistent 
Christian  life.  There  is  no  way  in  which 
you  can  so  help  the  pastor  and  the  cause  he 
stands  for  as  by  living  such  a  life.  Success 
or  failure,  for  him  and  for  the  church,  will 
depend  largely  on  the  life  you  are  living. 

3.  You  Can  Help  Him  by  Your  Praise. 
Not  flattery ;  God  forbid,  no  true  man  wants 
that,  but  the  appreciative  word  he  needs, 
and  often  longs  for.  When  Mr.  Beecher 
came  down  out  of  the  chapel  pulpit  of  the 
Yale  Divinity  School,  after  giving  his  "  Lec- 
tures on  Preaching,"  Doctor  Bacon  inquired 
if,  after  some  of  his  great  efforts,  the  devil 
did  not  tell  him  he  had  done  a  big  thing? 
"  No,"  said  Mr.  Beecher,  *'  he  sends  you  to 
do  it."  Only  another  way  of  saying  that 
the  voice  of  the  flatterer  may  be  the  voice 
of  the  adversary,  and  I  say  no  true  man 
wants  that.  But  if  your  pastor  in  his  minis- 
tration has  enabled  you  to  stand  against 
temptation,  girded  you  to  carry  life's  bur- 

J5  [  39  ] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

dens  triumphantly,  or  spoken  comfort  in 
the  hour  of  sorrow,  do  not  fail  to  let  him 
know  it.  When  in  the  pastorate  I  used  to 
tell  my  people  that  if  they  had  any  flowers 
for  me,  to  bring  them  now,  not  to  keep 
them  for  my  casket  or  my  grave,  for  flowers 
on  the  caskets  and  graves  of  the  dead  never 
atone  for  neglect  of  the  living.  Many  a 
pastor  would  have  been  spared  the  experi- 
ence of  Elijah  under  the  juniper  tree,  if  his 
people  had  only  spoken  what  they  felt  in 
their  hearts  and  had  let  him  know  what  his 
ministry  had  meant  to  them  in  the  trying 
hours  of  life. 

It  isn't  the  thing  you  do,  dear, 

It's  the  thing  you  leave  undone 
That  gives  you  a  bit  of  a  heartache 

At  the  setting  of  the  sun. 
The  tender  word  forgotten, 

The  letter  you  did  not  write, 
The  flowers  you  did  not  send,  dear, 

Are  your  haunting  ghosts  at  night. 

4.  You  Can  Help  Him  by  Your  Patience. 
In  my  travels  among  the  churches  over  my 
State  I  hear  petty  complaints  from  full- 
grown  persons  because  they  have  been  shut 
in  for  a  week,  and  the  pastor  has  not  called. 
Has  the  physician  called?  Certainly,  they 
"  phoned  him."    Why  did  they  not  "  phone  " 

[40] 


The  People  a  Factor  in  the  Problem 

the  pastor,  or  send  him  a  postal  ?  "  He 
ought  to  know !  "  Unreasonable  and  un- 
warrantable assumption!  I  know  most  of 
our  pastors  in  my  State,  and  am  confident 
that  the  average  man  among  them  will  go  at 
any  hour  of  day  or  night,  if  he  knows  his 
services  are  needed  in  his  own  flock  or  else- 
where. Bear  in  mind  that  your  pastor  is 
not  an  angel,  or  ought  not  to  be,  to  more 
than  one  person,  but  just  a  man.  I  don't 
want  an  angel  for  my  pastor,  for  angels 
know  nothing  of  my  human  needs,  but  I 
want  a  man  with  like  passions  with  myself. 
Being  a  man,  the  pastor  may  have  moods, 
like  the  rest  of  us,  and  there  may  be  days 
when  he  does  not  feel  like  calling  unless  he 
is  especially  needed.  I  used  to  wake  up 
some  mornings,  feeling  that  I  wanted  to  put 
in  a  full  day  in  my  study  with  my  books,  and 
hardly  went  out  of  the  door  unless  called 
out.  Other  days  I  felt  like  doing  pastoral 
work  and  gave  the  whole  day  to  it,  calling  on 
thirty  or  forty  families.  So  if  the  pastor 
does  not  call  today  he  may  come  tomorrow. 
If  you  need  him,  command  him,  and  he'll 
come,  but  do  not  be  impatient. 

5.  You  Can  Help  Him  by  Promptly  Meet- 
ing Your  Financial  Obligations  to  Him. 
The  most  courageous  man  in  the  community 
ought  to  be  the  man  in  your  pulpit,  and  yet 

[41] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

many  such  men  are  handicapped  in  their  at- 
titude and  in  their  utterance,  because  they 
cannot  meet  their  obligations  to  local  busi- 
ness men  in  their  pews.  The  failure  of 
their  people  to  keep  their  pledge  to  them 
embarrasses  them  in  their  ministry.  The 
churches  call  men  on  salaries  wholly  inade- 
quate to  their  needs,  and  then  fail  to  make 
any  provision  for  the  payment  of  the  same. 
If  anybody  has  to  borrow  money,  it  should 
be  the  trustees,  not  the  pastor.  -Certainly 
his  place  in  the  community  should  not  be 
jeopardized  because  of  their  shortcomings. 
In  many  instances  the  situation  would  be 
saved  by  a  better  financial  system. 

6.  Help  Him  by  Your  Prayers.  If  you 
have  been  lax  in  your  attendance,  careless  in 
your  life,  and  unappreciative  of  his  efforts 
on  your  behalf,  it  will  not  mean  much  to 
him  to  be  told  of  your  prayers  for  him,  for 
he  is  not  likely  to  regard  such  prayers  as 
"  effectual."  But  if  you  have  tried  to  be 
helpful  in  the  ways  I  have  indicated,  it  will 
be  peculiarly  comforting  to  him  to  be  as- 
sured of  your  prayer.  I  heard  John  Hall 
say,  in  his  last  days,  that  nothing  meant  so 
much  to  him  at  the  end  of  the  Sabbath  as 
the  consciousness  that  every  mother  in  his 
great  church,  on  putting  her  little  children  to 
bed,  taught  them  to  pray  for  Doctor  Hall. 

[42] 


The  People  a  Factor  in  the  Problem 

Pray  for  your  pastor,  and  teach  your  chil- 
dren to  pray  for  him.  I  do  not  wish  to  em- 
phasize the  earlier  points  in  this  article  in 
such  a  way  as  to  oppress  the  invalid,  or  the 
very  poor,  but  such  persons  will  heartily 
approve  all  I  have  said  along  those  lines. 
What  I  am  insisting  upon  is  the  most  hearty 
cooperation  of  the  people  with  their  pastor  in 
every  possible  way;  then  their  prayers  will 
mean  something  to  him.  I  am  more  anxious 
than  I  can  tell  that  every  member  should  add 
to,  not  take  from,  the  influence  of  his 
church. 

When  James  G.  Blaine  and  Grover  Cleve- 
land were  nominated  for  the  presidency,  an 
illustrated  New  York  weekly  came  out  with 
a  double-page  cartoon.  On  one  page  was  a 
gigantic  elephant,  "  the  G.  O.  P."  carrying 
the  "  Plumed  Knight,"  and  underneath  these 
words,  "  The  Party  Carries  Him."  It  had 
to  carry  him,  and  from  first  to  last  it  was  a 
campaign  of  explanation  ending  in  defeat. 
On  the  other  page  was  Grover  Cleveland,  a 
stalwart  man,  carrying  a  donkey,  the  Demo- 
cratic Party,  on  his  back,  with  these  words 
underneath,  "  He  Carries  the  Party."  He 
did,  and  carried  it  to  victory.  The  rank  and 
file  of  our  church-members  are  in  one  or  the 
other  of  these  positions,  either  where  the 
church  carries  them,  and  has  to  explain  and 

[43] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

apologize  for  them,  or  where  they  carry  the 
church  in  their  thought,  their  effort,  their 
prayer,  and  their  beneficence.  Reader,  in 
which  position  are  you?  It  is  a  frank  but 
fair  question,  and  I  trust  that  at  the  bar  of 
your  own  conscience  at  least  a  straight  an- 
swer will  be  given. 

7.  The  Presence  and  Power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  Essential.  After  more  than  forty 
years  in  the  ministry  I  am  convinced  there  is 
no  real  abiding  prosperity  in  any  field  where 
"  the  heart,"  the  whole  man,  intellect,  affec- 
tions, and  will,  are  not  under  the  dominion 
of  the  Spirit  of  God.  In  one  of  the  galleries 
of  Europe  I  saw  the  picture  of  a  man  in  a 
cell,  the  victim  of  religious  persecution. 
Through  a  window  opposite  the  door  a  ray 
of  light  came  and  passed  across  the  back 
wall  of  the  cell.  With  a  rude  instrument  he 
had  carved  on  that  wall  the  image  of  Christ. 
He  could  work  only  when  the  sun  shone. 
Brethren,  we  shall  carve  the  image  of  Christ 
in  the  lives  of  our  fellow  men  only  as  we 
live  and  work  in  the  sun,  an  atmosphere 
vitalized  by  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ. 


[44] 


IV 
EVANGELISM 


EVANGELISM 

I.    THE    PASTOR    HIS   OWN   EVANGELIST 

At  seasons  when  the  land  seems  aflame 
with  religious  fervor,  I  should  want  to  em- 
phasize the  importance  of  evangelism  and 
the  pastor's  part  in  it,  especially  in  rural 
and  village  churches.  It  goes  without  say- 
ing that  such  work  is  essential  to  real 
growth,  extensive  and,  intensive,  in  all 
churches  everywhere.  I  do  not,  therefore, 
dwell  upon  the  history,  philosophy,  or  ne- 
cessity of  revivals,  interesting  as  that  phase 
of  the  subject  may  be.  Mr.  Beecher,  speak- 
ing out  of  his  own  rich  and  varied  experi- 
ence, did  that  in  a  masterly  way  in  his  "  Yale 
Lectures  "  forty  years  ago,  and  his  succes- 
sor, Newell  Dwight  Hillis,  has  been  doing 
it  in  Plymouth  Church  recently.  Let  me  say 
a  word  in  the  way  of  definition,  not  de- 
fense. By  evangelism  I  mean  effort  on 
the  part  of  a  pastor  and  his  people  to  "  re- 
deem and  save  men,"  the  great  end  for 
which  Charles  E.  Jefferson  declares  a  church 
exists.  In  all  such  effort  I  contend  that  the 
pastor  should  lead.     Returning  from  his 

[47] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

summer  vacation,  spent  in  the  mountains  or 
beyond  the  sea,  with  plans  in  his  heart  for 
the  year's  work,  the  anxious  pastor  is  often 
amazed  to  find  how  indifferent  and  unre- 
sponsive his  officials  and  the  rank  and  file  of 
his  members  are  to  his  appeals  for  that  sort 
of  work.  In  the  rural  sections  the  county 
fair,  the  election,  Thanksgiving,  and  holi- 
day festivities,  with  many  other  social  and 
business  demands,  are  urged  as  reasons  for 
delay.  The  people  never  seem  to  be  quite 
ready  to  cooperate  with  the  pastor  in  that 
particular  line  of  work.  Indeed,  his  own 
heart  shrinks  from  it,  and  all  too  readily  he 
yields  to  their  suggestions  about  a  "  more 
convenient  season." 

Charles  S.  Robinson  once  issued  a  leaflet 
on  "  The  Delicacy  of  Spiritual  Dealing."  It 
is  the  most  delicate  and  difficult  task  ever 
undertaken  by  man,  and  he  who  does  not 
shrink  from  it  is  unfit  for  it.  But  the  pastor 
must  do  it,  and  he  must  lay  it  upon  his  peo- 
ple to  attempt  it  with  him.  If  he  fails  to 
overcome  their  indifference  and  inertia,  the 
time  is  sure  to  come  when  they  will  be  com- 
plaining of  the  barrenness  of  his  ministry, 
and  intimating  the  need  of  a  change  in  the 
pastorate.  Doubtless  there  are  convenient 
and  favorable  times,  and  he  must  be  on  the 
lookout  to  take  advantage  of  them.     He 

[48] 


Evangelism 


should  not  plan  to  begin  just  before  an  ex- 
citing election,  or  any  other  event  in  which 
all  the  people  are  interested,  for  two  great 
movements  cannot  occupy  the  popular  mind 
at  the  same  time.  The  one  is  sure  to  swal- 
low up  the  other. 

When  to  Begin  Meetings.  But  is  there 
not  a  "  set  time  for  God  to  favor  Zion?  " 
Yes,  but  that  "  set  time  "  is  not  a  date  in  the 
almanac,  but  a  state  in  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  men,  and  the  pastor,  under  God,  must 
help  to  bring  about  that  state.  When  the 
servants  of  the  Lord  ''  take  pleasure  in  the 
stones  of  Zion  and  favor  the  dust  thereof  " 
God's  '^  set  time  "  is  at  hand.  Many  years 
ago  the  pastor  of  a  large  church  in  Albany, 
appearing  one  morning  in  the  Ministers' 
Conference  in  New  York,  was  called  on  for 
information  about  a  recently  reported  work 
of  grace  in  the  churches  in  the  State  capital. 
He  admitted  such  a  work,  but  declared  that 
the  men  in  the  pulpits  there  had  nothing  to 
do  with  it,  were  even  surprised  by  it.  A 
lamentable  confession,  for  some  one  had 
something  to  do  with  it !  That  kind  of  thing 
Cometh  "  but  by  fasting  and  prayer." 

The  Pastor  s  Responsibility.  The  re- 
ligious life  of  the  people  in  the  pew  rarely 
rises  above  that  of  the  man  in  the  pulpit. 
At  the  close  of  the  Moody  and  Sankey  meet- 

[49] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

ings  in  the  old  Hippodrome  in  1876,  when 
New  York  was  stirred  as  it  has  never  been 
stirred  since,  some  one  in  the  audience  asked 
Mr.  Moody  how  he  would  go  to  work  to 
warm  up  a  church.  "  Put  a  stove  in  the 
pulpit,"  was  his  instant  reply.  So  I  insist 
that  the  man  in  the  pulpit  is  the  one  who, 
year  in  and  year  out,  must  stand  for  evan^ 
gelistic  effort  in  the  church  and  the  commu- 
nity. He  must  wisely  plan  and  then  persis- 
tently prepare  for  it  by  keeping  a  sweet  and 
healthful  atmosphere  in  the  church  and  all 
its  services.  I  speak  reverently  when  I  say 
that  there  are  some  things  our  God  cannot 
do.  He  cannot  work  miracles  of  grace  in 
conviction  and  conversion  of  men  in  the 
atmosphere  of  a  church  rife  with  bitterness 
and  animosity.  Consult  the  florist,  and  you 
will  find  that  he  is  about  the  only  man  who 
months  beforehand  can  tell  you  just  when 
Easter  comes  because  the  Easter  lily  is  a 
large  part  of  his  harvest.  If  Easter  comes 
earlier,  he  puts  up  the  temperature  of  his 
conservatory ;  if  later,  he  lowers  it.  He  can 
accelerate  or  retard  the  development  of  plant 
life  in  that  way.  So  one  can  accelerate  or 
retard  the  development  of  religious  life  by 
the  atmosphere  of  a  church,  and  the  pastor, 
I  repeat,  is  responsible  for  doing  it.  Fail- 
ing in  this,  he  fails  utterly. 

[50] 


Evangelism 


The  Pastor  Must  Lead.  Moreover,  he 
ought  to  lead  in  the  actual  effort  for  which 
he  has  been  planning  and  preparing.  Some 
men  of  fine  intellectual  and  spiritual  attain- 
ments lead  their  people  on  through  all  the 
preparatory  steps,  and  then  at  the  critical 
hour  call  in  another  to  guide  the  people  in 
taking  the  "  ultimate  step  "  that  brings  them 
into  the  kingdom.  I  can  understand  this 
hesitation  on  the  part  of  a  pastor  to  be  a 
factor  in  the  precipitation  of  the  religious 
experiences  of  his  hearers,  but  to  my  mind 
it  is  a  grave  mistake  for  all  concerned.  One 
never  learns  how  to  do  a  thing  except  as  he 
does  it.  No  man  ever  learned  to  swim  by 
standing  on  the  shore  watching  expert  swim- 
mers, or  by  reading  a  treatise  on  swimming. 
Only  as  he  plunges  in  does  he  learn  the  art. 
The  same  is  true  of  winning  souls. 

An  Illustrative  Experience.  In  the  early 
days  of  his  ministry,  before  his  ordination, 
the  writer  prayed  and  planned  for  a  revival 
with  the  conviction  that  nothing  else  would 
save  the  situation.  In  an  old-fashioned 
"  watch-meeting  "  between  two  years  there 
was  "  a  going  in  the  tops  of  the  mulberry 
trees,"  and  strong  men  and  women  were 
seeking  the  Lord.  Entirely  without  experi- 
ence, he  knew  not  what  to  do,  so  announced 
from  the  pulpit  his  intention  of  calling  in  a 

[51] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

neighboring  pastor  to  take  charge.  At  the 
close  of  the  service  a  consecrated  woman, 
whose  shining  face  has  been  before  him 
through  all  the  years,  urged  him  to  do  noth- 
ing of  the  kind,  but  to  depend  on  God  and 
the  help  of  his  own  people.  Doing  just  that 
thing  brought  a  revival  that  shook  the  town 
and  doubled  the  working  force  of  that 
church.  That  woman's  suggestion  has  been 
the  keynote  of  all  his  ministry,  and  never, 
so  far  as  man  can  direct,  has  a  service  gone 
out  of  his  own  hands.  No  man  knows  what 
is  in  him  or  what  he  can  do  until  responsi- 
bility is  upon  him.  To  plan  for  special  work 
and  prepare  for  it  and  then  to  allow  another 
to  take  his  place  is  to  miss  the  blessing  for 
his  own  soul,  and  surrender  the  joy  of  real 
success.  "Let  no  man  take  thy  crown." 
Character  is  the  outcome  of  responsibility 
assumed  and  triumphantly  borne.  When  you 
stand  by  and  see  another  do  the  thing,  you 
never  really  get  under  the  burden.  Mr. 
Lincoln  once  said  that  he  had  been  driven 
again  and  again  to  his  knees  in  prayer  by 
the  overwhelming  conviction  that  he  had  no- 
where else  to  go.  At  a  "  fast  day  "  in  the 
dark  days  of  the  Civil  War  a  Massachusetts 
senator,  who  had  not  been  seen  in  church  in 
twenty  years,  was  found  kneeling  with  his 
neighbors  at  the  altar  in  prayer.     ''  What, 

[52] 


Evangelism 


you  here  ?"  inquired  a  friend.  *'  Yes,  the 
nation  is  in  a  tight  place,  and  it  is  time  we 
began  to  look  for  help  somewhere,"  was  his 
reply.  Some  such  conviction  as  that  lays 
hold  of  a  man,  girds  him,  and  grips  him 
when  attempting  to  lead  a  movement  for  the 
salvation  of  men.  And  somehow,  in  his  own 
consciousness,  he  comes  very  near  to  God. 
Austin  Phelps  says,"  Jesus  Christ  is  never 
a  reality  until  he  becomes  a  necessity." 
Overwhelmed  by  the  magnitude  of  our  task, 
the  interests  involved,  and  our  inability  to 
meet  it  alone,  we  look  up  with  the  feeling 
that  we  must  have  God  in  Christ  to  help, 
and  he  draws  wondrously  nigh. 

Leadership  and  Cooperation.  For  these 
reasons  I  urge  a  fuller  assumption  of  leader- 
ship in  this  work  on  the  part  of  those  in  the 
pulpit  and  a  fuller  recognition  of  it  by  those 
in  the  pew.  Many  of  the  unfortunate 
circumstances  and  reactions  incidental  to 
so-called  "  professional  evangelism "  are 
avoided  when  a  pastor  and  his  people  initiate 
and  carry  on  the  work  themselves.  Read 
again  the  last  verses  of  Mark's  Gospel :  "  So 
then,  after  the  Lord  had  spoken  unto  them, 
he  was  received  up  into  heaven  and  sat  down 
on  the  right  hand  of  God.  And  they  went 
forth  and  preached  everywhere,  the  Lord 
working  with  them,  and  confirming  the  word 


[53] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

through  the  signs  that  followed  " — his  pres- 
ence and  power  were  manifested. 

Importance  of  Prayer.  In  many  a  church 
the  pastor  and  people  are  praying  for  a  re- 
vival, and  the  importance  of  prayer  cannot 
be  overestimated.  Thousands  of  meetings 
for  prayer,  held  weekly  for  months  in  Phila- 
delphia, prior  to  the  coming  of  "  Billy  "  Sun- 
day, explain,  in  part  at  least,  the  awakening 
that  followed.  But  while  prayer  is  essential, 
the  time  comes  when  men  must  do  more  than 
pray;  they  must  gather  up  the  energies  of 
their  souls  and  move  out  along  the  line  of 
their  petitions  with  the  assurance  that  God 
will  meet  them  there.  Fred  Douglas,  the 
slave,  prayed  for  years,  but  never  got  an 
inch  nearer  deliverance  until  he  began  to 
pray  with  his  legs,  run  toward  the  North 
Star.  The  Israelites,  pursued  by  Pharaoh, 
and  his  hosts  down  at  the  Red  Sea,  had  only 
one  way  open,  the  way  up,  the  way  that 
never  can  be  closed  to  any  soul,  and  the 
record  says :  *'  They  cried  unto  the  Lord. 
And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Wherefore 
criest  thou  unto  me?  Speak  unto  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  that  they  go  forward."  And 
as  they  went  the  way  was  opened,  and  they 
were  delivered  from  the  hand  of  the  Egyp- 
tians. The  ways  of  God  with  men  are  the 
same  now.    Pastors  of  churches  confronted 

[54] 


Evangelism 


by  perplexing  difficulties  in  far-off  isolated 
places  should  be  of  good  cheer,  for  God  is 
not  far  from  them  nor  can  his  empowering 
promise  fail  them.  On  a  rock  far  above 
the  city  and  harbor  of  Naples  is  the  castle 
of  St.  Elmo,  about  which  gather  centuries 
of  Italian  history.  In  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury the  castle  w^as  surrounded  by  a  besieg- 
ing army.  After  six  months  the  command- 
ing officer  was  called  upon  to  surrender 
on  the  plea  that  starvation  was  inevitable. 
His  only  reply  was  a  gigantic  living  fish 
hung  over  the  battlements  of  the  castle. 
They  had  subterranean  connection  with  the 
sea,  putting  all  the  resources  of  old  ocean 
at  their  command.  So  the  unfailing  re- 
sources of  an  all-wise,  loving,  and  omnipo- 
tent God  are  at  the  disposal  of  those  who 
trust  and  obey  him.  In  our  conferences  on 
rural  life  we  are  urging  a  "  survey  "of  the 
community  to  find  out  existing  conditions, 
also  insisting  upon  "  social  service "  and 
other  forms  of  altruistic  effort.  These  are 
important,  but  incidental  and  subordinate  to 
the  one  great  end  for  which  the  church  ex- 
ists, ''  redeeming  and  saving  men."  Let  our 
pastors  arouse  their  people,  claim  the  prom- 
ise, and  secure  the  blessing.  The  pastor,  the 
people,  and  God — these  are  the  three  great 
factors  in  the  problem. 

E  [SS] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 


II.    OTHER    METHODS    OF    EVANGELISM 

In  the  preceding  paragraphs  I  have  em- 
phasized the  importance  of  the  fact  that 
every  pastor  should  be  his  own  evangelist, 
leading  his  church  in  a  special  effort  for  the 
saving  of  the  people  some  time  during  every 
year.  With  equal  urgency  I  now  insist  that 
he  should  also  be  a  factor  in  a  movement  di- 
rected by  the  local  missionary  committee  to 
make  the  same  sort  of  thing  possible  in  every 
church  within  the  limits  of  his  own  associa- 
tion. Some  of  the  churches  in  towns  and 
cities  as  well  as  in  the  open  country  are 
"  decadent "  from  various  causes,  but 
oftener  than  anything  else  this  decadence 
arises  from  an  inefficient  leadership  or  from 
frequent  changes  in  the  pastorate,  so  that 
for  the  lifetime  of  a  generation  there  has 
not  been  a  real  awakening  in  the  member- 
ship. It  would  be  amusing,  were  it  not  so 
serious,  to  note  the  means  sometimes  pro- 
posed to  revitalize  such  churches.  To  my 
mind  the  simple,  natural,  scriptural,  and  only 
effective  method  is  a  '*  refreshing  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord."  Difficulties  appar- 
ently insuperable  disappear  or  are  conquered. 
Nearly  all  problems  are  easy  of  solution 
when  God  comes  near  and  "  rains  righteous- 
ness  upon   the   people."      The   evangelism 

[56] 


Evangelism 


advocated  is  not  "  extensive,"  a  mere  in- 
crease in  numbers,  but  "  intensive  "  as  well. 
When  Paul  and  Silas  "  went  through  Syria 
and  Cilicia,  confirming  the  churches,"  the 
outcome  of  their  ministry  was  given  in  this 
verse :  ''  And  so  were  the  churches  estab- 
lished in  the  faith  and  increased  in  number 
daily."  The  same  sort  of  twofold  process 
enters  into  all  real  evangelism.  With  so 
many  churches,  distributed  over  such  a  wide 
area,  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  for  me  to  re- 
spond to  all  the  appeals  with  associational 
missionaries  or  paid  workers  of  any  kind. 

Pastoral  Cooperation  in  Evangelism.  To 
meet  the  demands  for  help  in  special  ser- 
vices I  suggest  that  pastors  of  larger 
churches,  many  of  whom  have  already  had  a 
campaign  on  their  own  fields,  put  one  or  two 
weeks'  time  at  the  disposal  of  churches 
where  there  is  no  financial  ability  to  secure 
outside  men,  or  where  there  is  prejudice 
against  the  ''professional  evangelist."  Speak- 
ing out  of  the  "  fulness  of  their  hearts," 
little  special  preparation  would  be  required. 
W^ho  can  estimate  what  such  a  service  would 
mean  to  many  of  the  weaker  churches? 
Then  it  would  greatly  bless  the  man  doing 
it.  Some  of  the  pastors  would  be  surprised 
at  the  response  to  their  appeals,  and  in  the 
informal  week-night  service,  amid  new  sur- 


[57] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

roundings,  would  experience  a  freedom  and 
a  power  that  they  had  never  feh  before.  I 
know  men  who  have  found  themselves  anew 
in  this  sort  of  work.  Of  course,  I  am  aware 
that  I  am  not  proposing  a  new  measure,  for 
many  excellent  men  have  given  such  service 
every  year.  Frank  P.  Stoddard,  while  pas- 
tor at  Amsterdam,  New  York,  and  New- 
burgh,  rode  a  wheel  all  over  the  Saratoga, 
Long  Island,  and  Hudson  River  Central 
associations,  doing  that  kind  of  work. 
There  are  persons  in  scores  of  the  little 
churches  in  those  sections  of  New  York 
State  who  gratefully  recall  his  ministry  now. 
Edwin  B.  Richmond  and  Thomas  J.  Whita- 
ker  have  been  doing  this  work  all  through 
their  ministry.  George  Caleb  Moor  did  it  in 
the  Chautauqua  region,  and  Frank  O.  Bel- 
den  all  through  the  central  counties  when  he 
was  pastor  in  Binghamton.  What  I  am  urg- 
ing is  the  cooperation  of  many  others  in  this 
wider  missionary  work. 

Lay  Evangelists.  Strong  laymen  ought 
also  to  help  in  the  task.  English  Baptists  are 
ahead  of  us  in  this  respect.  When  in  Robert 
Hall's  old  pulpit  in  Cambridge  on  a  recent 
summer  I  missed  some  of  the  officials  at  the 
Standay  morning  service.  This  explanation 
was  given :  "  They  are  away  this  morning 
supplying  the  little  churches  in  the  outlying 

[58] 


Evangelism 


districts.  You  will  see  them  tonight."  That 
church  "  mothers  "  half  a  dozen  weak  inter- 
ests in  the  shire.  In  many  of  our  churches 
there  are  strong,  consecrated  laymen  who 
could  do  the  same  thing,  and  the  Empire 
State,  with  its  ten  millions  of  people,  will 
never  be  evangelized  without  this  volunteer 
service. 

Schoolhoiise  Revivals.  There  are  great 
possibilities  in  the  school  districts  of  the 
State.  During  the  five  years  of  my  pastor- 
ate at  Owego,  I  held  series  of  meetings  in 
six  schoolhouses  within  a  radius  of  a  few 
miles.  Some  of  the  most  precious  memories 
of  my  whole  ministry  gather  about  that 
period,  when  groups  went  out  with  me  night 
after  night  in  an  effort  to  reach  the  people. 
Do  not  anticipate  objections  from  the  ir- 
religious. Preaching  a  sweet  and  tender 
gospel,  a  man  is  welcome  everywhere,  irre- 
spective of  creed,  class,  nationality,  or  con- 
dition. A  young  Presbyterian  layman  had 
conducted  a  summer  Sunday  School  in  one 
of  those  schoolhouses  for  twelve  years,  and 
not  a  sermon  had  been  heard  there  all  that 
time,  except  at  a  funeral  now  and  then.  He 
urged  us  to  come  up  and  speak  to  the  people 
some  Sunday  afternoon  at  the  close  of  the 
school.  I  went  up  on  a  July  day,  with  the 
thermometer  at   ninety,   and   after   I   had 


[59] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

spoken  twenty  minutes  on  the  Twenty-third 
Psalm,  twenty-three  aduhs  took  Jesus  as  the 
Shepherd  of  their  lives. 

At  the  International  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  Conference  on  the  Rural 
Church  two  years  ago  in  New  York,  one 
speaker  declared  that  the  people  in  the  coun- 
try had  lost  their  vision  of  God.  How  could 
they  help  it?  Who  of  us  would  keep  our 
faith  under  the  same  conditions?  In  many 
parts  of  the  great  State  there  are  places  from 
five  to  ten  miles  square,  where,  year  in  and 
out,  there  is  not  a  religious  service  of  any 
kind.  Out  of  such  communities  will  come 
many  in  the  great  day  saying,  "  No  man 
cared  for  my  soul."  In  view  of  these  facts 
I  plead  again  for  evangelism  in  every  church, 
schoolhouse,  or  place  where  the  people  can 
be  brought  together. 

No  man  knows  what  possibilities  there 
are  in  such  little  groups.  Dr.  W.  C.  P. 
Rhoades,  when  pastor  of  a  church  in  a  col- 
lege town  in  Ohio,  went  out  one  night  to 
preach  in  a  schoolhouse.  It  was  dark  and 
dreary,  and  he  had  some  misgivings  on  the 
way  out,  questioning  in  his  own  heart 
whether  a  man  in  his  position  ought  to  be  in 
that  sort  of  business.  On  his  arrival  there 
were  but  fourteen  persons  present.  But 
when  the  service  was  over  a  good  man  and 

[60] 


Evangelism 


woman  took  him  home  with  them  for  the 
night.  Who  were  they?  The  father  and 
mother  of  Hubert  C,  E.  Arthur,  and  Byron 
A.  Woods,  three  men  as  choice  as  any  God 
has  called  into  our  ministry.  On  his  return 
he  was  chiding  his  own  heart  never  again  to 
despise  fourteen  people,  for  one  does  not 
know  who  is  among  them. 

The  last  time  I  met  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent laymen  of  our  day  the  conversation 
turned  on  friends  in  a  town  where  he  had 
been  a  boy  and  I  had  once  been  a  pastor. 
Among  those  recalled  was  an  early  teacher 
of  his  in  a  near-by  schoolhouse.  When  I  in- 
formed him  that  I  knew  that  teacher  and 
also  the  place,  as  I  had  held  a  series  of  meet- 
ings there,  he  replied  with  quivering  lip, 
"  Doctor  Granger,  some  of  the  deepest  im- 
pressions of  my  whole  life  were  received 
there."  Out  of  such  groups  in  the  far-off 
places  are  to  come  the  leaders  of  the  future, 
and  for  that  reason  every  such  place  should 
be  reached  with  evangelistic  effort. 

Pastoral  Oversight.  But  there  are  perils 
in  evangelism?  Certainly!  There  are  in 
every  form  of  religious  activity,  but  most  of 
them  may  be  avoided,  or  safely  encountered, 
if  the  right  sort  of  work  is  done  by  the  man 
residing  on  the  field.  To  a  people  properly 
led  and  taught  Austin  Phelps  is  right  in  say- 

[6i] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

ing:  "  Revivals  of  religion  may  come  and  {p 
as  the  most  natural  process  of  religious  ex- 
perience, creating  no  morbid  excitement,  and 
leaving  behind  them  no  evils  to  be  corrected. 
They  may  be  as  natural  as  the  tides — them- 
selves a  purifying  agency — instead  of  need- 
ing, as  actual  revivals  often  do,  to  be  them- 
selves purified."  In  other  words,  whether 
evangelists  and  outside  helpers  come  and 
go  as  auxiliaries  or  revolutionists  depends 
upon  the  sanity  and  fidelity  of  the  regular 
pastor. 

With  Mr.  Beecher  I  hold  that  "  revivals 
are  preeminently  desirable,  because  they 
arouse  individuals;  because  they  carry  up 
those  already  Christian  to  a  higher  pitch  of 
experience;  because  they  renovate  the 
churches  themselves ;  and  because  they  do  a 
work  for  scattered  populations  in  outlying 
districts  which  would  never  otherwise  be 
done.  There  are  multitudes  of  men  that 
could  never  get  away  from  the  current  of 
their  business,  never  face  the  public  senti- 
ment, the  social  current  of  the  community, 
unless  the  community  itself  became  warmed, 
leavened,  aglow  with  moral  influence.  Then 
they  would  go  with  the  stream;  and  there 
are  thousands  of  men  who,  in  that  way, 
come  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  but  never 
would  have  come  into  it  up-stream." 

[62] 


Evangelism 


III.    THE   EVANGELIST 

In  my  former  article3  on  "  Evangelism  " 
I  advocated  the  importance  of  every  pastor 
being  his  own  evangelist,  and  urged  that 
every  pastor  should  be  the  helper  of  other 
pastors  in  evangelistic  work,  so  as  to  make 
special  effort  for  the  saving  of  the  people 
possible  to  every  church  and  in  every  preach- 
ing place  some  time  every  year.  Now  I  want 
to  put  a  like  emphasis  on  the  place  and  work 
of  the  evangelist.  If  in  the  previous  article 
I  seemed  to  belittle  him,  I  shall  aim  in  this 
one  to  exalt  him  and  give  him  his  true  place, 
for  I  thoroughly  believe  in  the  evangelist  and 
sometimes  even  attempt  evangelism  myself. 

Evangelists  Necessary.  In  the  life  and 
activities  of  the  church  there  has  always  been 
a  place  for  men  fitted  by  temperament,  train- 
ing, and  talent  to  serve  as  evangelists.  The 
gifts  of  the  risen  and  ascended  Lord  to  the 
apostolic  church,  as  enumerated  by  Paul, 
were  ^'  apostles,  prophets,  evangelists,  pas- 
tors, and  teachers."  The  records  of  the 
church  in  early  times,  indeed  in  all  times, 
have  been  illuminated  by  the  toils  and  tri- 
umphs of  evangelists,  and  in  the  upbuilding 
and  perfecting  process  for  which  they  wvxe 
given  they  are  to  be  recognized  factors  to 
the  end.    Austin  Phelps  says,  "  More  than 


[631 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

one-half  of  the  history  of  Christianity  in 
this  world  would  be  blotted  out  if  we  should 
erase  the  record  of  these  great  sympathetic 
waves  of  religious  sensibility  that  have 
rolled  over  communities  and  nations  and 
races,  and  our  hope  of  the  world's  conver- 
sion is  a  dream,  if  religious  progress  is  to  be 
measured  by  that  of  the  intervals  between 
these  awakenings  of  the  popular  heart." 
Wise  ministers  will  all  the  while  be  on  the 
look-out  for  these  movements,  and  all  their 
plans  of  preaching  and  pastoral  work  will 
contemplate  them.  "  A  pulpit  not  adjusted 
to  revivals  is  like  a  system  of  husbandry  not 
planned  for  a  harvest." 

Some  pastors  have  the  evangelistic  gift 
in  an  unusual  degree,  aim  to  promote  re- 
vivals, are  never  surprised  by  them,  and 
therefore  rarely  feel  the  need  of  an  evangel- 
ist. It  is  worthy  of  note  that  nearly  all  the 
great  evangelists  of  modern  times,  like  Ed- 
wards, Wesley,  Lyman  Beecher,  Knapp,  and 
Swan,  were  successful  pastors  and  widely 
known  before  they  became  evangelists.  On 
the  other  hand  there  are  men  called  of  God 
and  specially  endowed  as  evangelists;  only 
moderately  successful  in  the  pastorate,  they 
find  themselves  at  last,  "  come  to  their  own  " 
in  evangelism.  Even  evangelistic  pastors, 
after  long  years   of   service  on  one  field, 

[64] 


Evangelism 


wearied  or  broken  physically,  feel  the  need 
of  help,  and  call  in  the  evangelist.  Others 
by  reason  of  constitutional  timidity,  or  be- 
cause never  thrust  into  actual  evangelism,  or 
perhaps  because  of  what  seemed  like  failure 
in  one  effort,  have  not  been  able  to  summon 
their  courage  or  energy  for  another.  Still 
others,  of  fine  social,  mental,  and  spiritual 
attainments,  who  on  platforms  enthrall 
multitudes  of  their  fellow  men,  seem  utterly 
helpless  in  leading  them  to  take  the  "  ulti- 
mate step  "  and  willingly  confess  their  in- 
ability in  this  respect.  A  man  of  the  rarest 
culture  was  for  nearly  twenty  years  pastor 
of  a  great  church  in  a  New  England  town, 
and  though  admired  for  his  character  and 
gifts  as  a  preacher,  saw  only  a  meager  out- 
come to  his  ministry  in  conversions  and  ad- 
ditions to  the  church.  His  successor,  far 
less  gifted,  had  the  "  wooing  and  winning 
note,"  and  multitudes  have  been  received. 
Of  course,  both  men  were  factors  in  all  that 
happened  there,  one  sowing  and  another 
reaping.  Differing  then,  as  men  do  through 
inheritance,  education,  and  experience,  or 
through  conditions  which  they  have  not 
created  and  cannot  control,  the  time  comes 
when  they  imperatively  need  an  outside 
helper.  Whom  shall  they  call?  Hardly  a 
week  passes  that  I  am  not  asked  by  some 

[65] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

pastor  or  church  to  name  "  just  the  man." 
While  I  cannot  always  name  the  man 
wanted,  I  can  sometimes  indicate  the  man 
they  certainly  do  not  want.  I  am  on  delicate 
ground  here,  but  the  interests  involved  com- 
pel me  to  speak  frankly  and  plainly,  for 
while  there  are  clean,  cultured,  conscientious, 
Christian  men,  increasing  numbers  of  them, 
in  evangelism,  some  words  of  caution  are 
needed. 

Know  Your  Evangelist.  Consider  bo 
man  about  whose  character  or  standing 
there  is  any  uncertainty.  Like  Caesar's  wife, 
the  evangelist  must  be  "  above  suspicion." 
Men  may  be  out  of  the  pastorate  and  in 
evangelism  because  pulpits  are  no  longer 
open  to  them.  Uncontrolled  tempers,  com- 
mercial dishonor,  or  immorality  have 
branded  them  as  unfit  to  lead  a  church. 
Driven  out  of  one  locality  by  "^  an  infuriated 
public  opinion,"  they  are  "  hearing  the  call  " 
to  this  most  delicate  of  all  tasks  in  another. 
One  man,  for  years  a  member  of  an  ''  inter- 
denominational evangelistic  combination," 
left  debts  amounting  to  five  hundred  dolkirs 
in  his  last  pastorate.  The  State  missic«n- 
ary  organization  in  whose  employ  he  had 
been,  paid  his  bills  to  save  the  credit  of  the 
church,  and  took  his  note,  on  which  he  re- 
fuses to  pay  interest  and  which  he  does  not 

[66] 


Evangelism 


even  recognize  as  an  obligation.  Imagine 
such  a  man  leading  an  evangelistic  campaign 
anywhere!  *' What  you  do,"  says  Emer- 
son, ''  speaks  so  loudly  that  I  cannot  hear 
what  you  say."  It  is  not  surprising  that 
churches  that  have  been  compromised  by 
such  men  as  pastors  are  shy  of  them  as 
evangelists. 

Have  Your  Evangelisfs  Work  Defined. 
Have  a  clear  understanding  as  to  what  the 
man  comes  to  do,  whether  to  lead  in  a  posi- 
tive religious  effort,  or  in  a  reform  move- 
ment to  "  clean  up  a  town."  It  is  often  said 
of  Mr.  Sunday  that  towns,  cities,  and  even 
States  '*  go  dry  "  as  a  result  of  his  cam- 
paigns. While  that  may  be  true,  it  is  only 
incidental,  a  by-product  of  his  work,  for 
the  dominating  purpose  of  the  man  is  re- 
ligious and  seems  never  to  be  lost  sight  of. 
For  me  to  stand  in  another  man's  pulpit, 
when  I  am  invited  there  as  an  evangelist, 
and  indiscriminately  attack  public  men  in  the 
church  or  out,  because  I  am  in  a  place  where 
they  cannot  reply,  is  to  me  unmanly  and 
cowardly  in  the  extreme.  And  yet  that 
thing  is  frequently  done  in  the  name  of 
evangelism.  I  know  that  the  personal  ele- 
m-ent  is  one  of  the  most  important  factors 
in  all  successful  preaching,  especially  in 
evangelism,  and  that  many  fail  for  the  lack 


[67] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

of  it.  A  sailor  on  a  whaling  vessel  in  New 
York  harbor,  returning  from  a  down-town 
mission,  when  asked  about  the  service,  de- 
clared that  "  everything  there  was  in  ship- 
shape, decks  all  scrubbed  from  stem  to  stern, 
but  not  a  harpoon  on  board,"  no  personal 
element  in  the  sermon,  nothing  that 
"  found  "  him.  Carefully  written  and  sealed 
letters  are  sometimes  held  for  an  address, 
and  some  sermons  ought  to  be  held  for  the 
same  reason.  Without  the  personal  ele- 
ment they  do  not  mean  anybody.  The 
preacher,  like  a  man  firing  his  gun  in  the 
air,  aims  at  nothing  and  usually  hits  it. 
While  the  personal  element  then  is  essential, 
it  must  be  the  helpfully  personal,  not  un- 
kindly personal.  I  am  told  that  empty 
freight  cars,  thousands  of  them,  go  astray 
and  are  lost  every  year.  They  get  switched 
off  the  main  line  and  are  sidetracked  at  local 
stations.  Salaried  men  traverse  the  conti- 
nent looking  them  up  and  starting  them  on 
again  toward  their  places  of  destination. 
Churches  are  sometimes  completely  side- 
tracked by  men  who  are  mere  reformers  and 
have  lost  sight  of  the  great  end  for  which 
the  church  exists.  Pastors,  if  not  them- 
selves unseated,  are  sometimes  obliged  to 
waste  months  after  such  men  are  gone,  re- 
pairing the  damage  done. 

[68] 


Evangelism 


We  all  believe  in  reform,  but  it  must  be  a 
religious  reform,  or  it  is  nothing.  The 
Bishop  of  Calcutta,  on  the  platform  of  a 
society  for  the  reform  of  Hindoo  morals, 
said,  *'  If  you  wish  to  make  anything  eternal 
you  must  build  it  on  the  Christian  religion, 
for  that  is  the  only  thing  in  this  world  that 
is  eternal."  And  he  was  right.  An  emi- 
nent Presbyterian  minister  of  the  last 
generation  began  an  address  by  saying: 
''  Brethren,  we'll  consider  the  subject  first 
from  the  view-point  of  Scripture  and  the- 
ology; second,  philosophy."  After  speaking 
for  a  time  on  the  first  point  he  drew  a  long 
breath,  lowered  his  voice  and  said,  "  Now  let 
us  descend  to  philosophy."  So  when  we 
abandon  the  high  place  into  which  God  has 
put  us  as  preachers  of  the  everlasting  gospel 
to  be  the  mere  advocates  of  some  reform, 
we  "  descend,"  come  tremendously  down. 
A  real  revival  will  give  a  new  impulse  to 
every  reform,  and  often  revolutionize  the 
administration  of  municipal  affairs.  If  the 
revival  is  the  end  sought,  let  that  be  clearly 
understood  by  the  man  coming  to  promote  it. 

Have  a  Definite  Financial  Understanding. 
Have  a  definite  financial  arrangement  which 
all  the  people  know  about  and  can  share  in. 
Mr.  Sunday  is  right  in  refusing  to  allow 
any  man  to  ''under write  "  the  whole  cam- 


[69] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

paign.  The  more  taking  part  the  better, 
is  true  in  a  financial  as  in  every  other  way. 
Frankness  and  publicity  at  the  outset  often 
save  from  embarrassment  and  humiliation 
later  on.  Inefficient  financial  management 
has  been  the  "  fly  in  the  ointment  "of  many 
an  evangelistic  campaign. 

No  Evangelistic  Imitators.  Avoid  men 
who  are  echoes  or  imitators  of  others. 
When  Moody  and  Sankey  returned  from 
Great  Britain  in  1875  they  found  themselves 
famous.  In  a  few  months  hundreds  of  men 
on  both  sides  the  Atlantic  were  aping  the 
men  and  their  methods,  and  something  like 
it  is  happening  now.  For  a  man  to  fall  into 
the  slang  of  the  street  or  to  adopt  the  ver- 
nacular of  any  calling,  and  to  smash  articles 
of  furniture  on  platforms,  because  ''  Billy  " 
Sunday  has  been  known  to  do  it,  is  to  miss 
the  real  secret  of  the  man's  power  and  to 
make  himself  ridiculous.  When  Gough,  the 
temperance  advocate,  died,  Theodore  Cuy- 
ler  said,  "  Providence  never  repeats  himself; 
he'll  never  treat  us  to  another  John  B. 
Gough."  This  is  substantially  true  of  all 
the  remarkable  men  called  and  used  of  God 
in  evangelism.  Each  one  has  had  his  own 
peculiar  gifts,  constituting  that  subtle,  in- 
describable something  called  personality, 
and  through  that  personality  God  came  by 

[70] 


Evangelism 


his  Spirit  convincing  and  persuading  men. 
Other  men,  trying  to  use  their  peculiar  meth- 
ods, may  find  themselves  in  the  position  of 
the  vagabond  Jews  at  Ephesus,  who  called 
over  them  that  had  evil  spirits  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  saying,  "  We  adjure  you  by 
Jesus  whom  Paul  preacheth,"  when  the  evil 
spirit  answered  and  said,  "  Jesus  I  know, 
and  Paul  I  know;  but  who  are  ye?"  At- 
tempting Paul's  method,  they  were  overcome 
and  fled,  "  naked  and  wounded."  How  then 
can  a  man  appeal  to  his  age,  arrest  and  grip 
it  ?  Only  as  he  preaches  a  Christ  which  his 
own  heart  knows  and  loves  and  serves.  But 
why  am  I  stressing  evangelism?  Because 
so  many  of  our  churches,  missionary  and 
self-supporting,  go  through  a  whole  season 
without  any  additions  on  confession  of  faith. 
Some  years  more  than  half  of  all  the 
churches  in  the  State  do  not  report  a  single 
baptism.  Any  reference  to  this  condition 
nearly  always  awakens  resentment.  Pastors 
contend  that  baptisms  are  not  the  test  of  effi- 
ciency, that  "  Eternity  will  show  results." 
All  the  same,  I  insist  that  baptisms  are  a  test, 
if  not  the  test,  of  efficiency,  and  if  results 
are  expected  everywhere  else  in  this  world, 
why  should  there  be  an  exception  in  the 
realm  of  religion?  Campbell  Morgan  says, 
"  If  a  church  is  existing  only  by  letters  of 


[71] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

transfer  it  is  time  its  doors  were  closed,  and 
*  Ichabod,  the  glory  of  the  Lord  has  de- 
parted,' was  inscribed  across  them."  "  I 
must  work  the  works  of  him  that  sent  me 
while  it  is  day;  the  night  cometh,  when  no 
man  can  work." 


[72] 


THE  PRAYER-MEETING  AND 

WHY  IT  OUGHT  TO  BE 

MAGNIFIED 


THE   PRAYER- MEETING  AND 

WHY  IT  OUGHT  TO  BE 

MAGNIFIED 


"  Has  the  prayer-meeting  had  its  day, 
and  is  it  a  thing  of  the  past  ?  "  That  very 
question,  announcing  the  subject  of  a  Sun- 
day morning  sermon,  I  have  seen  on  the 
bulletin-board  of  a  great  up-town  church  in 
New  York  within  a  year  or  two.  Evidently 
it  was  a  thing  of  the  past  with  that  church 
and  its  pastor,  or  the  question  would  not 
have  been  raised.  In  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews we  are  exhorted  "  not  to  forsake  the 
assembling  of  ourselves  together  " — another 
way  of  saying  that  we  ought  to  magnify  the 
appointments  of  the  Lord's  house,  and  I 
think  he  had  in  mind  the  social  gatherings 
on  a  week-night,  as  well  as  those  for  public 
worship  on  the  Lord's  Day.  Can  one  hope 
to  say  anything  new  on  a  subject  so  thread- 
bare ?  Perhaps  nothing  new ;  certainly  some 
things  true,  as  tried  and  proved  in  pastoral 
experiences  of  many  years.  I  shall  give 
two  or  three  reasons,  then,  why  the  prayer- 
meeting  ought  to  be  magnified. 

[75] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

I.  What  the  Prayer-meeting  Means  to 
the  Preacher.  A  few  years  ago  The  Ex- 
aminer had  a  discriminating  editorial  on  the 
"  finding  quality  in  the  sermon."  Most  of 
us  know  what  was  meant,  for  we  have  often 
been  in  churches  in  which  the  whole  service 
was  formal  and  uninteresting,  with  no  per- 
sonal element  in  it,  nothing  that  found  us. 
Again,  we  have  gone,  wearied  in  mind  and 
body,  with  life's  burdens  resting  heavily 
upon  us,  perhaps  have  gone  out  of  a  sense  of 
duty ;  and  while  we  have  waited,  in  the  song 
and  prayer  and  testimony  our  burdens  have 
been  lifted;  those  things  that  perplex  and 
annoy  have  been  forgotten;  and  we  have 
gone  out  refreshed  and  glad.  Something  in 
the  service  found  us.  Fatigued  by  sightsee- 
ing and  travel,  I  went  into  a  little  English 
chapel  one  summer  Sunday  afternoon  in 
Heidelberg,  where  I  could  hardly  keep 
awake.  On  the  way  out  I  was  greatly  com- 
forted to  hear  an  Englishwoman  speak  of 
it  as  a  *'  dreary  performance,  nothing  in  it 
that  any  one  could  carry  away."  No  "  find- 
ing quality  "  !  We  differentiate  preachers 
by  their  ability  or  inability  to  put  the  ''  find- 
ing quality  "  into  their  sermons.  But  when 
a  sermon  finds  us,  is  it  not  because  the  man 
who  made  it  had  us,  or  some  one  like  us,  in 
mind?    Just  as  skilful  physicians  write  out 

[76] 


The  Prayer-meeting 


their  prescriptions  after  making  a  careful 
diagnosis  of  their  patients,  so  helpful 
preachers  make  their  sermons  with  refer- 
ence to  the  needs  of  their  hearers.  But  how 
can  they  do  this  ?  How  can  they  know  the 
conditions  under  which  their  people  are  liv- 
ing, or  the  peculiar  experiences  through 
which  they  are  passing  ?  Only  as  they  come 
in  personal  touch  with  them  somewhere. 

When  I  was  pastor  of  a  church  with  sixty 
members  in  a  small  town  I  could  see  nearly 
all  of  them  on  Saturday  afternoon,  and  in 
that  way  insure  their  presence  in  the  ser- 
vices on  Sunday,  but  when  I  had  a  thousand 
members  scattered  in  a  city  of  thirty  thou- 
sand it  was  a  different  thing,  requiring  fif- 
teen hundred  or  two  thousand  calls  every 
year.  Not  an  easy  task,  but  one  that  must 
be  undertaken,  for  ^'  the  man  who  is  invisi- 
ble six  days  in  the  week  will  be  incompre- 
hensible on  the  seventh." 

But  while  the  pastor  must  know  his  peo- 
ple in  order  to  preach  helpfully  to  them,  he 
cannot  live  on  the  streets,  nor  can  he  spend 
the  larger  part  of  his  time  in  their  homes. 
A  man  who  was  an  untiring  pastor  in  a 
large  town  startled  his  people  by  resigning 
his  pastorate  at  the  end  of  two  years,  and 
when  they  demanded  a  reason  he  frankly 
replied  that  "  his  pond  had  run  out."     So 

177] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

much  of  his  time  had  been  spent  on  the 
streets  and  in  their  homes  that  study  and 
preparation  had  been  neglected,  and  he  was 
seeking  relief  in  change. 

Time  must  be  found  for  study  and  pulpit 
preparation.  Spurgeon  rightly  says,  "  The 
pulpit  is  the  Thermopylae  of  this  war,"  and 
in  the  last  analysis  the  man  stands  or  falls 
by  the  work  done  there.  How  then  can  he 
obtain  the  knowledge  of  his  hearers  so  es- 
sential to  his  helpfulness  as  a  preacher? 
Here  we  see  the  place  and  value  of  the 
prayer-meeting,  for  it  is  what  Beecher  calls 
"  the  voice  of  the  church,"  where  in  prayer 
and  song  and  confession  their  great  heart 
needs  are  made  known.  In  that  service  they 
empower  him  to  bring  a  finding,  helpful 
message  to  them  on  Sunday.  I  have  gone 
to  prayer-meeting  many  a  time  unable  as  yet 
to  determine  what  I  would  preach  about  the 
coming  Sunday.  While  there  the  meeting 
grew,  one  after  another  taking  part,  ser- 
mons have  been  suggested,  and  when  de- 
livered have  had  the  "  finding  quality  "  in 
them.  The  prayer-meeting  is  the  clinic  of 
the  church.  If  ill  or  in  trouble,  the  preacher 
should  go  to  the  people,  but  when  able  they 
should  come  to  him.  So  I  say  the  prayer- 
meeting  should  be  magnified,  first,  because 
of  what  it  means  to  the  man  in  the  pulpit, 

[78] 


The  Prayer-meeting 


informing  and  enabling  him  to  be  helpful  to 
the  people  in  his  ministrations. 

2.  What  the  Prayer-meeting  Means  to 
the  People.  There  is  always  helpfulness  in 
association  with  those  of  like  aims  and  pur- 
poses. Ministers,  musicians,  artists,  law- 
yers, doctors,  and  teachers,  those  in  all 
professions,  come  together  for  mutual  in- 
spiration. Nowhere  is  this  truer  or  more 
important  than  in  the  realm  of  religion. 
''  Then  they  that  feared  the  Lord  spake 
often  one  to  another,"  the  prophet  tells  us, 
and  we  know  what  they  were  speaking 
about,  for  "  out  of  the  fulness  of  the  heart 
the  mouth  speaketh."  When  persecuted  in 
the  apostolic  time  "  the  disciples  being  let 
go  went  unto  their  own  people  " ;  the  law  of 
spiritual  affinity  took  them  there,  and  it 
would  have  been  against  their  Christianity 
had  they  gone  elsewhere.  You  have  gone  to 
prayer-meeting,  thinking  God  had  singled 
you  out  for  some  peculiar  trial,  but  as  you 
have  listened  to  the  outpouring  of  other 
hearts  you  have  recalled  the  apostle's  words, 
"  There  hath  no  temptation  taken  you  but 
such  as  is  common  to  man,"  and  you  have 
been  comforted  in  the  thought  that  you  were 
not  alone  in  your  trial;  others  were  in  the 
"  same  boat." 

Then  it  is  the  place  where  we  get  new 


[79] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

visions  of  Christ.  When  the  two  disciples, 
disappointed  and  sorrowing,  were  going 
back  to  Emmaus  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
resurrection,  **  while  they  communed  to- 
gether and  reasoned,  Jesus  himself  drew 
near,  and  went  with  them."  At  the  end  of 
that  memorable  journey,  in  which  he  had 
"  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scrip- 
tures the  things  concerning  himself,"  they 
constrained  him  to  go  in  and  abide  with 
them,  and  in  the  breaking  of  bread  he  was 
made  known  unto  them,  and  then  vanished 
out  of  their  sight.  "  And  they  rose  up  at 
the  same  hour,"  forgot  all  their  sorrows  and 
weariness  in  the  new  vision  of  him,  "  and 
returned  to  Jerusalem,  and  found  the  eleven 
gathered,  and  they  told  them  what  things 
were  done  in  the  way,  and  how  he  was 
known  of  them  in  breaking  of  bread." 
''  And  as  they  thus  spake,  Jesus  himself 
stood  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  said,  Peace 
be  unto  you."  What  an  argument  for  the 
prayer-meeting!  As  we  commune  and  rea- 
son about  the  things  that  have  happened  to 
us,  the  Master  comes  and  shows  himself 
again.  After  all,  brethren,  is  not  this  new 
vision  of  the  Master  and  the  consciousness 
of  his  presence  the  great  need  of  our 
churches  in  city,  town,  and  country?  Car- 
lyle  in  his  last  years  got  a  letter  now  and 

[80] 


The  Prayer-meeting 


then  from  Emerson,  whom  he  had  met  in 
early  life.  These  letters  from  Concord  he 
declared  to  be  open  windows  in  the  heavens 
to  his  soul.  If  there  is  any  place  where  the 
windows  of  heaven  are  open  above  us,  and 
where  we  look  into  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ, 
I  believe  it  is  the  place  where  we  gather  for 
prayer. 

Fellowship  is  also  promoted  in  the  prayer- 
meeting,  because  in  our  prayers  and  testimo- 
nies we  reveal  ourselves.  In  my  first  pas- 
torate, a  business  man,  member  of  a  church 
in  Brooklyn,  was  often  in  our  Sunday  eve- 
ning service.  Because  of  his  position  with 
a  great  corporation  there  was  considerable 
prejudice  against  him  in  the  community. 
When  his  daughter  was  baptized  into  our 
church  he  concluded  to  cast  in  his  lot  with 
us.  Knowing  the  popular  feeling  against 
him,  I  was  somewhat  disturbed,  but  the  first 
time  he  was  heard  in  prayer  at  our  midweek 
service  all  prejudice  was  gone,  and  the  peo- 
ple went  out  saying  they  had  never  known 
the  man  till  they  heard  him  pray.  We  reveal 
ourselves  in  the  prayer-meeting  and  at  the 
same  time  find  and  recognize  the  best  that 
is  in  our  brethren. 

3.  What  the  Prayer-meeting  Means  to 
the  Church.  In  the  corridors  of  our  great 
hotels  there  is  what  business  men  call  the 


[81] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

"ticker,"  that  enables  them  to  tell  at  a 
glance  the  market  value  of  securities.  The 
prayer-meeting  is  the  "  ticker "  of  the 
church,  showing  pretty  nearly  the  place  and 
influence  it  has  in  the  community.  If  the 
"  church  is  Christianity  organized  for  the 
conquest  of  the  world,"  then  the  prayer- 
meeting  is  its  training-ground  and  girding- 
place,  and  its  real  working  power  is  usually 
found  there.  As  I  look  back  through  thirty- 
four  years  in  the  active  pastorate,  and  re- 
call the  influential  factors  in  the  four 
churches  served,  they  are  almost  invariably 
the  men  and  women  who  were  active  in  the 
prayer-meeting.  I  am  not  disposed  to  em- 
phasize this  point  in  such  a  way  as  to  op- 
press some  unavoidably  kept  away,  but  even 
they  will  bear  me  out  in  saying  that  the 
throbbing  heart  of  the  church  is  felt  there 
as  in  no  other  service,  and  for  that  reason 
I  was  always  urging  newcomers  quickly  to 
find  their  place  there.  In  his  little  book  on 
"  The  Church  of  To-day,"  Joseph  Henry 
Crooker  has  a  remarkable  chapter  on  "  Re- 
ligion as  a  Corporate  Life,"  which  he  defines 
to  be  the  sum  total  of  all  the  influences  ex- 
erted by  all  the  members  of  the  church,  liv- 
ing and  dead,  which  abide,  a  permanent  life 
influence  in  the  community.  Just  as  in  the 
fall  of  the  year  the  tree  draws  out  of  the 

[82] 


The  Prayer-meeting 


leaf  and  back  into  itself  the  "  vital  stuff  " 
that  is  in  the  leaf,  for  service  another  year, 
so  the  church,  as  a  great  tree  of  life,  draws 
into  itself  and  preserves  the  influence  of  the 
individual  as  he  passes  on,  so  that  long  after 
he  has  gone  away  like  the  fading  leaf  the 
spiritual  substance  of  his  life  remains  in  the 
organism  to  enrich  and  bless  others.  From 
the  fulness  of  this  corporate  life  the  weak 
are  strengthened,  by  it  the  sorrowing  are 
comforted,  and  through  it  the  sinful  are 
chastened.  Thus  organized,  incorporated, 
instituted,  it  is  a  permanent  evangel  among 
men,  and  nowhere,  to  my  mind,  do  we  come 
into  such  vital  contact  with  it  as  in  the 
prayer-meeting. 

Moreover,  it  seems  to  be  the  place  pecu- 
liarly favorable  to  the  precipitation  of  re- 
ligious experience.  While  many  of  us  were 
impressed  and  heard  the  call  of  God  in  the 
public  service  or  through  a  personal  friend, 
most  of  us  really  surrendered  and  took  the 
"  ultimate  step  "  in  the  prayer-meeting.  Be- 
cause then  of  what  this  service  means  to  the 
man  in  the  pulpit,  the  people  in  the  pews, 
and  the  church  in  the  community  we  ought 
to  make  more  of  it.  The  outcome  of  evan- 
gelistic effort  in  the  churches  this  season  will 
be  determined  very  largely  by  what  our  at- 
titude toward  the  prayer-meeting  has  been. 


[83] 


VI 

HOW  TO  MAGNIFY  THE 
PRAYER-MEETING 


HOW   TO   MAGNIFY  THE 
PRAYER-MEETING 


Chapter  V  was  printed  as  a  leaflet  and 
quite  generally  distributed  over  New  York 
State.  Some  pastors  and  theological  pro- 
fessors commend  it,  showing  they  still  be- 
lieve in  the  prayer-meeting,  while  others 
have  sneeringly  said,  "  Let  the  poor  old 
thing  alone."  Still  others,  approving  the 
position  taken,  have  asked  for  some  hints 
on  how  to  magnify  it.  While  conscious  that 
I  shall  be  on  ''  thin  ice  "  here,  the  impor- 
tance of  the  subject  leads  me  to  venture. 

We  Can  Magnify  the  Prayer-meeting, 
first,  By  our  Presence,  by  being  there  our- 
selves, not  simply  when  convenient,  but 
habitually.  Let  me  begin  with  the  minister. 
Some  pastors  in  this  busy  age  are  out  of 
their  prayer-meetings  once  or  twice  every 
month,  and  then  wonder  why  the  service  is 
not  more  successful.  They  do  not  magnify 
it  themselves,  why  should  anybody  else?  I 
met  one  such  pastor  on  his  way  to  an  up- 
State  Association  the  other  summer,  and 
he  seemed  anxious  to  get  back  that  night, 

G  [87] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

for  it  was  his  church  prayer-meeting  from 
which  he  had  been  absent  six  consecutive 
services  already.  He  was  hearing  the  call 
to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  whole  denomi- 
nation over  the  country,  and  of  course  a 
little  matter  like  his  own  church  prayer- 
meeting  could  not  stand  in  the  way  of  this 
larger  service.  "  Meddling  with  world 
problems  '*  is  what  they  call  this  "  larger 
ministry  "  which  absolves  them  from  their 
own  pastoral  duties.  "  Real  duties  never 
clash,"  some  one  has  said,  and  I  doubt  if 
there  is  any  real  duty  anywhere  that  calls 
the  average  pastor  from  his  own  church  on 
a  prayer-meeting  night.  Possibly  there  are 
exceptions,  but  they  are  rare.  I  have  not 
missed  a  commencement  at  Colgate  in  thirty 
years,  but  I  have  frequently  "  cut  out "  the 
alumni  dinner,  so  as  to  be  in  my  midweek 
meeting.  I  would  have  been  readily  ex- 
cused, but  what  would  have  become  of  all 
my  teaching  along  that  line?  I  cannot,  in 
fact,  I  have  no  right,  to  ask  my  people  to 
stand  for  a  service,  when  I  do  not  stand  for 
it  myself.  A  year  rarely  passed,  when  in 
the  pastorate,  that  I  did  not  preach  a  ser- 
mon emphasizing  the  prayer-meeting,  and 
the  importance  of  our  fidelity  to  it.  If  I  had 
lightly  excused  myself,  what  would  have 
been  the  effect  of  my  sermon?    But  while 

[  88  ] 


How  to  Magnify  the  Prayer-meeting 

I  urge  the  pastor's  presence,  I  do  not  mean 
he  shall  be  the  whole  thing,  do  all  the  talk- 
ing. A  man  accepted  a  call  to  a  large  church 
whose  prayer-room  was  crowded,  and  in 
less  than  two  years  he  talked  it  nearly 
empty.  Many  of  the  chairs  were  stored  in 
out-of-the-way  places  and  the  rest  arranged 
so  as  to  give  more  aisle  and  less  seating 
space.  Gifted  in  speech  he  easily  used  most 
of  the  time  himself,  then  called  on  two  or 
three  and  closed.  Freedom  and  spontaneity 
were  throttled.  In  fact,  he  let  it  be  known 
that  he  did  not  believe  in  the  value  of  the 
average  man's  testimony.  It  was  "  not 
conducive  to  edification,"  and  soon  the  meet- 
ing dwindled.  So  I  say,  he  must  be  there, 
there  on  time,  and  the  people  must  be  wel- 
comed and  encouraged  as  factors  in  the 
service.  More  than  that,  everybody  must 
be  made  to  feel  that  they  can  come  and  not 
be  singled  out  in  prayer  or  in  any  way  have 
attention  called  to  them.  Let  it  be  clearly 
understood  that  anybody  can  come  and  go 
from  that  service,  just  as  freely  as  from  the 
public  worship  on  Sunday.  Welcome 
strangers  warmly  when  they  come,  but  do 
not  express  surprise  or  act  as  if  it  were  an 
unusual  thing  for  them  to  be  there.  I  tried 
for  months  to  get  a  certain  man  in  prayer- 
meeting,  and  the  first  time  he  came,  a  dea- 

[89] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

con  said:  "What,  you  here?  Aren't  you 
afraid  the  building  will  fall  on  you?  "  And 
yet  we  make  deacons  and  trustees  out  of 
such  fools !  Make  the  service  informal  and 
free,  with  a  sweet  homelike  atmosphere,  a 
sort  of  weekly  gathering  of  the  family,  and 
it  will  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  place  where 
their  bodies  are  rested,  their  cares  for- 
gotten, and  their  spirits  refreshed.  They 
will  come  then  not  out  of  a  sense  of  duty, 
but  because  they  love  to  come.  A  little  boy 
was  taken  by  his  mother  to  the  primary  class 
in  our  Sunday  School,  rather  against  his 
own  will.  The  teacher  was  wise  and  knew 
something  about  the  management  of  boys, 
and  when  the  time  came  to  take  the  offer- 
ing she  said :  "  We  have  a  new  scholar  to- 
day; his  father  helps  to  take  the  collection 
in  church;  perhaps  he'll  help  us  to  take  it 
here."  He  fell  right  in  with  the  plan  and 
at  the  close  of  the  service  said,  "  I  want  to 
belong."  Make  the  prayer  service  what  it 
ought  to  be,  and  give  the  people  their  true 
place  in  it,  and  they  will  assuredly  "  want  to 
belong." 

We  Can  Magnify  the  Prayer-meeting,  in 
the  second  place,  By  a  Preparation  for  It. 
Not  the  kind  of  mental  preparation  that 
enables  a  man  to  print  on  a  card  six  months 
beforehand  what  will  be  the  subject  of  each 

[90] 


Hoiv  to  Magnify  the  Prayer-meeting 

meeting.  The  man  with  a  theological  pro- 
gram to  exploit  may  do  that,  but  it  will 
hardly  be  a  prayer-meeting.  To  my  mind 
the  prayer  service  should  not  be  too  studied, 
but  should  grow  largely  out  of  the  life  of 
the  people  and  be  helpful  to  them  in  the  ex- 
periences through  which  they  are  passing; 
and  who  can  tell  what  those  experiences  will 
be  months  in  advance?  Mr.  Beecher  said 
he  was  all  the  while  "  growing  sermons  " 
into  which  the  events  and  scenes  of  daily 
life  entered  as  factors,  and  when  Sunday 
came  he  shook  the  tree  and  the  ripest  fruit 
fell.  The  most  important  hour  in  all  the 
week  he  declared  was  just  before  the  ser- 
vice, when  he  was  beating  himself  up  into 
what  he  called  the  "  higher  mood."  We 
want  that  sort  of  preparation  for  the  prayer- 
meeting,  beating  ourselves  up  into  the 
higher  mood.  One  of  the  reasons  why  so 
many  of  us  preachers  *'  beat  the  air  "  and 
accomplish  so  little  with  our  sermons  is  that 
there  is  such  meager  preparation  for  the 
service  on  the  part  of  our  people.  William 
Arnot,  in  that  great  book  "  The  Church  in 
the  House,"  says,  "  If  my  dear  people  would 
only  spend  the  last  few  moments  before 
coming  to  service,  taking  veils  off  their 
hearts  instead  of  putting  veils  on  their  faces, 
how    much   more    helpful    I    could    be    to 

[91] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

them !  "  I  do  not  mean  to  belittle  mental 
preparation,  but  when  that  has  been  care- 
fully done,  and  the  time  for  the  service  ar- 
rives, the  preacher  will  often  find  that  some 
startling  event  has  happened  within  a  few 
hours,  and  in  spite  of  himself  the  prayers 
and  testimonies  of  the  people  will  be  out  of 
the  fulness  of  their  hearts,  colored  by  what 
has  just  happened.  Under  such  circum- 
stances, a  wise  leader  will  lay  aside  his  care- 
iully  prepared  address  and  fall  in  with  the 
line  of  thought  uppermost  in  the  minds  of 
his  hearers.  Anyhow,  he  will  seek  to  utilize, 
correct,  and  properly  direct  their  thought, 
or  he  may  be  sidetracked  himself.  The 
necessity  for  such  a  change  will  be  excep- 
tional, however,  and  does  not  militate 
against  preparation.  Be  there  early  and  be 
ready  to  set  the  meeting  going.  Do  not  sing 
the  spirit  all  out  of  the  people  before  the 
service  really  begins.  Carefully  select  the 
hymns  from  which  you  expect  to  make 
your  choice  during  the  evening,  so  as  not 
to  be  fumbling  over  a  book  looking  for  a 
hymn,  while  others  are  praying.  Above  all 
cultivate  the  spontaneous  singing  of  a  verse 
of  some  old  familiar  hymn  now  and  then. 
Nothing  lifts  a  meeting  at  certain  stages 
like  a  verse  sung  in  that  way.  Half  the  ef- 
fect is  lost  if  the  number  has  to  be  an- 

[92] 


How  to  Magnify  the  Prayer-meeting 

nounced,  followed  by  a  great  commotion  in 
finding  the  place. 

Thirdly  and  lastly,  Participation  in  the 
Service  is  Essential,  prayer  and  testimony 
by  the  people  as  well  as  by  the  leader.  And 
do  not  be  afraid  of  "  long  prayers,"  if  they 
are  real  prayers  and  not  ''  dreary  drivel." 
In  the  church  of  my  childhood  there  were 
strong,  untutored  men  who  could  pray  with 
such  unction  and  power  that  the  place  where 
we  met  was  literally  "  shaken"  and  the 
whole  service  lifted  up  to  the  very  throne  of 
God.  They  were  not  ^'  sentence  prayers  " 
that  Christian  Endeavor  has  made  fashion- 
able in  our  day  when  some  one  sits  with  a 
pad  and  pencil  to  keep  tab  on  the  number 
that  take  part,  as  if  the  value  and  power  of 
a  prayer-meeting  could  be  tabulated  by  any 
such  picayune  method.  I  heard  Doctor 
Lorimer  say  in  his  last  days  that  his  "  old 
heart  was  yearning  to  hear  some  man  again 
who  had  piety  enough  to  pray  for  half  an 
hour."  I  am  not  advocating  long  prayers, 
but  I  am  not  afraid  of  them  if  they  are 
real,  not  simulated.  Nor  am  I  afraid  of 
what  is  termed  "  the  awful  pause."  I  recall 
the  Scripture,  "  And  David  sat  before  the 
Lord,"  an  indication  that  our  heavenly  Fa- 
ther is  pleased  to  have  us  quietly  and  rever- 
ently sit  in  his  presence,  even  though  an 

[93] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

"  everlasting  chattering  "  is  not  going  on. 
Such  moments  in  a  service  are  beautiful  to 
me,  times  when  God  can  speak  and  there  is 
some  possibility  of  our  hearing.  Nor  can  a 
service  always  be  closed  at  a  set  time.  Elder 
Swan,  one  of  the  great  evangelists  of  the 
last  generation  said,  "  You  cannot  run  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  the  clock,"  and  he  was 
right.  A  Methodist  bishop,  speaking  to  a 
class  of  young  men  he  was  ordaining,  said, 
"  There  are  sermons  that  are  long  at  half  an 
hour,  and  there  are  sermons  that  are  short 
at  an  hour  and  a  half."  He  cautioned  them 
against  allowing  some  lawyer  in  the  congre- 
gation to  snap  his  watch  on  them  at  the  end 
of  an  hour.  That  "  lawyer  "  he  said,  "  takes 
whole  days  in  court,  with  witnesses  and  a 
jury  of  twelve  men,  at  the  public  expense, 
trying  to  establish  the  ownership  of  a  peck 
of  onions,  while  you  are  dealing  with  im- 
mortal interests.  Do  not  allow  him  to  limit 
you  in  your  great  task."  Usually  an  hour  is 
long  enough  for  the  service,  but  there  are 
times  when  unusual  interest  develops,  and 
you  can  afford  to  go  on  longer.  These  last 
few  moments  in  such  meetings  are  the 
''  critical  moments,"  and  the  "  prayer-meet- 
ing bummer "  must  be  headed  off  and 
guarded  against.  When  the  fire  really  gets 
to  burning  there  will  be  no  lack  of  partici- 

[94] 


How  to  Magnify  the  Prayer-meeting 

pants.  What  is  needed  is  a  goodly  number 
of  consecrated  men  and  women  who  can  be 
relied  upon  to  help  build  the  fire  and  do  it 
without  being  called  upon.  To  keep  the 
'last  moments  of  such  a  service  when  you 
want  to  fasten  impressions  and  fix  destinies, 
sacred  and  free,  will  tax  your  wisdom  and 
courage,  but  somehow  you  must  do  it  if  the 
end  of  the  service  is  to  be  secured.  How 
can  it  be  done  ?  By  kindly  but  frankly  deal- 
ing with  the  offenders.  The  man  who  is 
always  ready  to  confess  other  people's  sins, 
but  rarely  his  own,  must  be  put  in  his  true 
place  or  silenced  altogether.  One  of  that 
type  of  men  used  to  get  up  about  ten  minutes 
before  I  wanted  to  close,  and  evidently  I 
betrayed  my  feeling  in  my  face,  knowing 
that  the  end  of  all  things  was  at  hand  for 
that  meeting,  for  when  I  went  into  his  place 
of  business  he  said,  *'  Pastor,  whenever  I  get 
up  to  speak  I  notice  you  look  at  the  face  of 
the  clock."  "  Yes,"  I  said,  "  and  I  look  at 
the  face  of  the  people  before  I  look  at  the 
clock,  and  if  you  insist  on  this  course  I  am 
going  to  call  for  a  show  of  hands  to  see  how 
many  want  to  hear  you,  and  I  imagine  that 
will  reveal  a  condition  that  will  make  it  im- 
possible for  you  ever  to  open  your  mouth 
there  again."  He  took  the  hint  and  '^  gov- 
erned himself  accordingly,"  for  he  had  rea- 

[95] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

son  to  know  I  was  his  friend.  Frankness 
saved  the  situation  for  me,  and  it  will 
usually  do  it  if  done  in  the  right  spirit. 
These  are  what  Mr.  Beecher  used  to  call 
'*  the  flies  in  the  ointment."  At  the  close  of 
a  great  prayer-meeting  in  Plymouth  Church, 
when  he  had  been  speaking  on  the  love  of 
God  as  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ  and  his 
sympathy  for  struggling  men,  one  of  these 
men  with  fiery  red  hair  rose  and  said,  "  Mr. 
Beecher,  I  feel  just  like  laying  this  red  head 
of  mine  in  the  Master's  bosom."  "  What 
could  I  do  after  that?  "  asked  Mr.  Beecher. 
Nothing  but  close  the  meeting.  "  Neverthe- 
less," he  said  when  relating  the  incident, 
^'  I  believe  in  the  prayer-meeting."  So,  in 
spite  of  all  the  "  flies  in  the  ointment,"  for  I 
too  have  had  my  trials  in  that  direction,  let 
me  say  that  I  believe  in  the  prayer-meeting, 
and  I  believe  it  can  be  made  very  much  more 
valuable  to  all  our  churches.  The  man  in 
the  pulpit  must  believe  in  it,  and  it  comes 
pretty  near  being  a  part  of  his  job  to  give  it 
its  rightful  place.  Certainly  he  must  not  let 
the  impression  get  abroad  that  it  bores  him. 


[96] 


VII 

DANGEROUS   SUNDAY  SCHOOL 
TENDENCIES 


DANGEROUS   SUNDAY  SCHOOL 
TENDENCIES 


In  spite  of  all  that  can  be  said  of  the  be- 
neficent influence  of  the  Sunday  School, 
there  are  those  who  think  they  can  discern 
some  possible  dangers  in  its  present  tenden- 
cies. My  mother  carried  me  into  the  Sun- 
day School,  before  I  was  able  to  walk  there, 
and  either  as  pupil,  teacher,  or  superinten- 
dent I  have  been  there  ever  since.  Many 
years  a  pastor  I  rightly  value  all  that  the 
Sunday  School  has  meant  to  the  work  in 
which  I  have  been  a  factor,  and  yet  I  some- 
times wonder  if  there  are  not  phases  of  its 
activity  that  need  safeguarding?  Ready  to 
resent  any  indiscriminate  attack  upon  the 
school  as  an  institution,  may  it  not  be  well 
for  even  its  friends  to  inquire  if  some  of  its 
enthusiastic  promoters  are  not  in  danger  of 
losing  sight  of  the  fundamental  idea  for 
which  it  came  into  existence?  Let  me  call 
attention  to  two  or  three  possible  dangers. 

First,  The  Danger  Toward  the  Home. 
The  earliest  of  all  institutions  is  the  family, 
older  than  the  Sunday  School,  or  even  the 

[99] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

church.  The  family  is  also  underneath  all 
the  rest,  for  God  founds  the  church  and  the 
nation  upon  the  family,  and  that  complex 
thing  called  civilization  is  progressive,  per- 
manent, and  beautiful  only  as  it  recognizes 
the  place  and  the  sacredness  of  the  family. 
When  the  Roman  mother  counted  her  chil- 
dren as  her  jewels,  the  nation  was  safe ;  but 
when  the  laws  of  family  life  were  disre- 
garded, as  in  the  Augustan  age,  the  nation 
was  already  tottering  to  its  fall.  *'  The  re- 
public of  a  hundred  years  is  at  the  fireside  of 
today,"  said  the  Roman  orator.  The  church 
is  there  too,  and  what  the  church  and  nation 
are  yet  to  be  will  depend  largely  on  the  atti- 
tude of  fathers  and  mothers  toward  their 
parental  obligations.  Growing  out  of  the 
family  relation  is  the  duty  of  prayerful,  per- 
sistent, religious  instruction,  a  duty  that 
never  can  be  delegated  to  another.  "  Thou 
shalt  teach  them  diligently  to  thy  children, 
and  shalt  talk  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in 
thine  house,  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the 
way,  and  when  thou  liest  down,  and  when 
thou  risest  up  "  (Deut.  6  :  y). 

No  device  of  Sunday  School,  or  any  other 
institution,  should  be  allowed  to  interfere 
with  the  "  irreversible  obligation  "  of  par- 
ents in  all  time  to  teach  their  children  the 
great  eternal  verities  of  their  religion.    I  ask 

[  lOo] 


Dangerous  Sunday  School  Tendencies 

if  the  Sunday  School  of  today  is  not  taking 
over,  perhaps  invading,  the  realm  of  pa- 
rental religious  instruction?  Are  we  not 
making  it  easy  for  parents  to  neglect  this 
divinely  imposed  duty  by  practically  abdi- 
cating in  favor  of  the  modern  Sunday 
School  teacher?  Some  of  us  can  remember 
when  it  was  the  custom  to  assemble  the 
family  on  Sunday  afternoon  after  dinner  to 
recall  the  morning  sermon  and  make  per- 
sonal application  of  its  teaching.  How 
many  families  do  that  now?  I  should  be 
afraid  to  call  for  a  show  of  hands  on  that 
point  in  an  average  congregation.  "  But  are 
not  all  the  children  in  the  Sunday  School?  " 
Yes,  and  to  a  great  extent  we  have  turned 
over  the  whole  moral  and  religious  teaching 
of  the  rising  generation  into  the  hands  of 
the  modern  Sunday  School  teacher.  I  do 
not  say  this  has  been  done  deliberately  or 
intentionally,  but  that  has  been  the  result  all 
the  same,  and  in  just  so  far  as  this  has  been, 
the  very  end  for  which  the  Sunday  School 
came  into  being  has  been  defeated.  The 
teaching  in  the  Sunday  School  may  and 
ought  always  to  supplement  that  of  the 
home,  but  never  supplant  it.  Anyhow  it 
was  not  primarily  intended  for  the  children 
of  Christian  homes,  but  for  those  of  god- 
less   homes.      The    germ   of    the    Sunday 

[lOl] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

School  is  found  in  the  passage :  "  Gather 
the  people  together,  men,  and  women,  and 
children,  and  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy 
gates,  that  they  may  hear,  and  that  they  may 
learn,  and  fear  the  Lord  your  God,  .  .  and 
that  their  children,  which  have  not  known, 
may  hear,  and  learn  to  fear  the  Lord  your 
God"  (Deut.  31  :  12).  In  English  and 
Scotch  homes,  where  I  have  been  a  guest 
and  have  expressed  surprise  that  their  chil- 
dren were  not  in  a  Sunday  School,  the  in- 
stant reply  has  been,  "  We  are  taught  at 
home,  the  Sunday  School  is  for  those  who 
have  no  such  teaching  at  home."  Are  they 
not  right?  Lycurgus,  the  Spartan  ruler, 
severed  the  tie  binding  together  the  parent 
and  child,  and  established  a  sort  of  public 
nursery.  Are  we  not  in  danger  of  repeating 
the  folly,  in  another  direction,  by  making  a 
spiritual  public  nursery  of  the  Sunday 
School  ? 

A  Second  Possible  Danger  is  Toward  the 
Scriptures.  I  think  I  appreciate  all  the 
items  that  go  to  make  up  the  "  equipment  " 
of  an  up-to-date  Sunday  School,  such  as 
"maps,"  "charts,"  "wall  rolls,"  "black- 
boards," "  sand-maps,"  and  "  quarterlies," 
but  in  the  maze  of  all  these  things  are  we 
not  likely  to  lose  sight  of  the  word  itself? 
"  These  words  which  I  command  thee  this 

[  102  ] 


Dangerous  Sunday  School  Tendencies 

day  shall  be  in  thine  heart,"  and  these  were 
the  words  that  they  were  to  *'  teach  dili- 
gently unto  their  children."  These  words 
were  to  be  ''  a  lamp  unto  their  feet,  and  a 
light  unto  their  path."  They  were  also  to 
enlighten  the  understanding,  for  "  the  en- 
trance of  thy  word  giveth  light."  Then, 
they  were  to  safeguard  the  "  heart  out  of 
which  are  the  issues  of  life,"  for  the  Psalm- 
ist says,  ''  Thy  word  have  I  hid  in  my  heart, 
that  I  might  not  sin  against  thee."  Presum- 
ably all  these  "  helps  "  are  calculated  to  illu- 
minate, illustrate,  and  enforce  the  Scrip- 
tures, but  do  they  ?  Indeed  I  am  sometimes 
tempted  to  ask  if  the  latter  days  are  so  much 
better  than  the  former?  In  the  old  home 
church  where  I  first  went  to  Sunday  School, 
we  had  only  a  six-cent  copy  of  the  New 
Testament,  without  references,  maps,  or 
helps  of  any  kind.  After  the  session  was 
opened  with  prayer  and  the  singing  of 
Robert  Lowry's  hymns,  the  pupils  began  the 
recitation  of  Scripture  verses  memorized 
during  the  week.  The  lesson  assigned  was 
seven  verses  as  a  minimum.  Whole  chap- 
ters, in  some  instances  whole  Gospels,  were 
memorized,  ^'  hid  in  the  heart,"  by  boys  and 
girls  in  those  days,  whereas  now  there  seems 
to  be  no  place  in  the  curriculum  for  that  sort 
of  thing.    A  Sunday  School  *'  expert  "  came 

H  [  103  ] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

to  speak  to  the  teachers  in  Mount  Vernon, 
and  spent  the  whole  evening  on  a  *'  Sand 
Map,  its  Construction  and  its  Uses."  When 
I  asked  him  what  place  there  was  in  his 
scheme  for  memorizing  Scripture,  he  said, 
"  Absolutely  none,  I  don't  believe  in  it,  ex- 
cept by  the  law  of  indirection.  Inciden- 
tally, as  the  pupils  make  the  map,  locate  its 
places  of  interest,  and  associate  the  great 
men  of  the  Bible  with  them,  they  will  come 
to  be  familiar  with  their  words."  A  novel 
notion  surely,  and  I  wonder  if  any  consider- 
able number  of  our  Sunday  School  "  ex- 
perts "  hold  that  view?  ^ 

A  Third  Possible  Danger  is  Toward  the 
Church.  One  of  the  notable  preachers  of 
the  last  generation  used  to  speak  of  the 
Sunday  School  as  *'  the  children's  church," 
an  unfortunate  characterization,  for  on  the 
ground  of  their  presence  in  the  Sunday 
School  many  children  are  excused  from  the 
services  of  the  church,  and  then  when  they 
drop  out  of  the  school,  as  many  of  them  in- 

^  Since  the  above  was  written,  I  have  been  delighted  to 
find  that  our  Publication  Society  in  its  series  of  Graded 
Quarterly  Lessons  makes  special  provision  for  memorizing 
the  Scripture.  Columbia  University  is  also  establishing  an 
innovation  among  our  great  educational  institutions  by  mak- 
ing the  Bible  an  examination  unit  for  entrance.  Included 
in  the  examinations  will  be  the  memorizing  of  passages  from 
the  Bible,  Hebrew  history  from  the  Egyptian  period  to  the 
destruction  of  the  Jewish  Commonwealth  in  A.  D.  70,  and 
the  origin  of  the  different  books  of  the  Bible,  and  how  they 
have  passed  down  to  the  present  generation.  Surely  this 
is  one  of  the  hopeful  signs  of  the  times. 

[   104] 


Dangerous  Sunday  School  Tendencies 

evitably  do,  with  no  church  habit,  they  are 
lost  to  the  church  entirely.  Is  not  this  evil 
"  unclasping  the  clinging  associations  of 
childhood  from  the  sanctuary,"  and  giving 
us  a  generation  of  non-churchgoers?  One 
Sunday  morning  last  summer,  I  went  to 
speak  in  a  church,  the  pastor  of  which  had 
been  taken  ill  the  night  before,  and  where 
the  school  met  previous  to  the  church  ser- 
vice. When  I  arrived  there  were  more  peo- 
ple outside,  going  away  from  the  church, 
the  superintendent  among  them,  than  were 
inside  to  hear  me  speak.  They  were  not 
running  away  from  me,  for  they  did  not 
know  I  was  coming.  That  was  their  cus- 
tom, making  the  Sunday  School  their 
church.  If  a  child  or  an  adult  cannot  attend 
both,  by  all  means  let  him  attend  the  church, 
and  any  organization,  be  it  Sunday  School, 
young  people's  society,  organized  class,  or 
even  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
that  leads  away  from  the  church  and  not  to 
it,  is  defeating  the  fundamental  idea  of  its 
own  being.  Moreover,  the  value  of  any  of 
these  organizations  is  to  be  measured  by 
what  it  means  to  the  services  of  the  church, 
the  preaching  service,  and  the  church 
prayer-meeting.  I  am  not  an  alarmist,  but 
with  the  increasing  number  of  organizations 
in  the  name  and   under  the  roof  of  the 

[105] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

church,  and  in  view  of  the  effects  some  of 
them  are  having  upon  the  stated  meetings 
of  the  church,  I  feel  that  the  time  has  come 
when  we  must  exalt  the  church  itself  and 
stand  for  its  services  as  never  before.  For 
myself,  I  rather  deprecate  the  separation  of 
the  church  into  so  many  classes,  ^'  young," 
*'  old,"  "  primary,"  "  intermediate,"  and 
^'  senior."  In  the  forest  one  finds  the  giant 
oak  that  has  stood  for  a  hundred  years,  and 
the  seedling  just  piercing  the  sod,  and  there 
is  every  species  of  plant,  shrub,  and  tree  be- 
tween those  extremes.  The  same  sun 
warms  and  quickens  them,  the  same  dew  and 
rain  cleanses  and  refreshes  them  and  the 
same  storms  rage  about  and  test  them. 
They  sprout,  grow,  and  mature  in  the  same 
soil  and  under  the  same  influences.  In  due 
time  each  gets  what  it  needs.  They  grow 
together.  That  is  God's  way  in  nature.  Is 
it  not  also  his  way  in  grace  ? 


[io6] 


VIII 

THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH   ONCE 
MORE 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  ONCE 
MORE 


In  making  a  plea  for  the  country  minister 
in  a  recent  number  of  '*  The  Watchman-Ex- 
aminer," the  writer  again  calls  attention  to 
the  relation  of  the  rural  church  to  the  de- 
nomination and  the  .world.  To  my  mind, 
this  relation  has  never  been  more  vital  than 
now,  and  has  never  imposed  upon  us  a  larger 
obligation  to  care  for  such  churches. 

An  Adirondack  pastor  says :  "  Here  is  my 
problem:  If  I  receive  a  dozen  young  people 
in  my  church  this  season  when  I  return  from 
my  vacation  next  autumn,  all  of  them  who 
are  not  anchored  by  a  mother's  money  or  a 
father's  business  will  be  gone."  The  mo- 
ment these  young  people  become  Christians 
they  get  a  new  outlook  on  life,  its  meaning, 
and  its  possibilities,  and  begin  at  once  to 
feel  the  stirring  of  ambition  to  do  a  man's 
or  a  woman's  work  in  the  world.  To  prepare 
for  active  careers  they  go  to  the  great  cities 
with  their  increased  educational  facilities, 
so  that  the  rural  church  is  being  all  the 
while  depleted,  in  some  cases  decimated  and 

[  109] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

desolated,  in  the  interest  of  the  larger 
churches  in  the  populous  centers. 

Some  men  born  in  cities,  may  read  this 
statement  with  a  feeling  of  resentment,  but 
it  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  ministers,  mis- 
sionaries, musicians,  artists,  editors,  lawyers, 
doctors,  teachers,  engineers,  and  captains  of 
industry  in  almost  overwhelming  numbers 
come  from  the  country.  If  we  had  space  to 
call  the  roll  of  the  heroes  of  faith  in  our  na- 
tional and  church  life  the  readers  would  be 
amazed  at  the  result.  Offhand,  without  any 
careful  or  systematic  examination,  let  me 
give  some  concrete  illustrations  of  how  the 
rural  places  are  our  source  of  supply.  I  can 
cite  more  cases  from  the  ministry  than  from 
other  callings,  because  I  am  more  familiar 
with  them,  but  the  proportion  is  about  the 
same  in  all  the  professions.     Note  this  list: 

Newton  Lloyd  Andrews,  for  fifty-three 
years  teacher  of  Greek  at  Colgate,  came 
from  the  village  of  Fabius;  John  L.  Heff- 
ron,  physician,  dean  of  the  medical  faculty 
of  Syracuse  University,  and  Ceylon  H. 
Lewis,  the  well-known  lawyer,  were  born  in 
the  same  town,  and  received  early  religious 
impressions  from  the  little  Baptist  church 
there;  Aaron  Hale  Burlingham,  pastor  of 
churches  in  Pittsburgh,  Boston,  New  York, 
the  American  Chapel  in  Paris,  and  in  the 

[no] 


The  Country  Church  Once  More 

last  years  of  his  life,  representative  of  the 
Foreign  Mission  Society,  came  from  Castile. 
Frank  O.  Belden,  many  years  of  the  Main 
Street  Church,  Binghamton,  then  of  Mount 
Vernon,  now  of  San  Diego,  Calif.,  was  also 
born  there.  Saugerties,  one  of  the  old 
towns  of  Hudson  River  Valley,  gave  to  Al- 
bany and  New  York  Charles  DeW.  Bridg- 
man,  one  of  the  most  charming  men  and 
brilliant  preachers  of  the  last  generation. 
Busti,  a  far-off  little  place  in  Chautauqua 
County,  has  given  sixteen  men  to  our  minis- 
try, F.  P.  Stoddard  among  them.  Such  a 
contribution  alone  would  have  justified  the 
existence  of  that  church. 

In  the  same  country,  near  Frewsburg, 
John  E.  Clough,  our  apostle  to  the  Telugus, 
was  born.  January  21,  1867,  he  organized  a 
church  at  Ongole,  with  eight  members. 
In  twelve  years  it  had  grown  to  thir- 
teen thousand,  the  largest  church  in  the 
world.  In  six  weeks  of  the  summer  of 
1878,  more  than  eight  thousand  were  bap- 
tized into  its  fellowship  by  Clough  and  his 
helpers.  Pentecostal  seasons  came  again  to 
men  through  his  ministry.  The  whole 
Christian  world  is  familiar  with  the  career 
of  this  boy  from  Frewsburg. 

The  old  town  of  Homer,  now  a  suburb 
of  Cortland,  gave  to  the  educational  and 

[III] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

diplomatic  world  Andrew  D.  White,  and 
to  religious  journalism  Edward  S.  Bright. 
Justin  D.  Fulton,  preacher,  editor,  author, 
and  lecturer,  was  born  in  Sherburne,  N.  Y., 
where  his  father  was  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
church.  George  D.  Adams,  preacher,  col- 
lege president,  and  now  pastor  at  Mount 
Vernon,  N.  Y.,  came  from  the  same  town. 
H.  W.  Barnes,  so  long  Secretary  of  the 
New  York  State  Convention,  was  a  boy 
in  the  church  at  Owego.  The  Genung  broth- 
ers, authors,  teachers,  preachers;  C.  M. 
Brink,  professor  of  English  History  at  Kala- 
mazoo ;  and  Henry  W.  Sherwood,  pastor  at 
Syracuse,  Kingston,  and  Hudson  Falls,  were 
all  born  near  by  and  licensed  from  the  same 
church.  John  D.  Rockefeller  lived  in  the 
vicinity,  attending  the  Free  Academy,  where 
Washington  Gladden  and  Benjamin  F. 
Tracy  were  also  pupils. 

A.  C.  Osborn,  one  of  the  oldest  living 
graduates  of  Colgate,  pastor  at  Louisville, 
Ky.,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  North  Adams,  Mass., 
Albany  and  Broooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  for  the 
last  ten  years  of  his  public  life  president  of 
Benedict  Institute,  South  Carolina,  was  born 
at  North  Wilna,  Jefferson  County.  W.  W. 
Dawley,  pastor  at  Gloversville,  Duluth,  St. 
Paul,  and  then  at  Syracuse,  came  from  the 
same  place. 

[112] 


The  Country  Church  Once  More 

The  little  hamlet  of  Great  Bend,  where 
the  church  numbers  but  a  dozen  members, 
just  now  taking  on  new  life,  gave  us  C.  H. 
Merrill  of  Gloversville,  and  Woolworth,  the 
"  Ten  Cent  Store  "  man,  who  is  a  Methodist. 
The  village  of  Elbridge,  near  Syracuse,  con- 
tributed the  Rhoades  Brothers,  W.  C.  P.,  of 
the  Borough  of  Brooklyn,  and  Charles  L., 
of  Fredonia.  The  Sears  brothers,  Albert 
Barnes,  of  Syracuse,  and  Charles  H.,  super- 
intendent of  the  New  York  City  Mission 
Society  and  author,  came  from  Delphi  Falls 
in  the  same  locality.  From  Red  Creek, 
Wayne  County,  we  got  George  G.  Dutcher, 
of  the  Borough  of  Brooklyn,  first  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Convention,  and  Dr.  James  A. 
Bennett,  long  treasurer  of  the  New  York 
City  Mission  Society.  Arthur  Jones,  many 
years  pastor  at  Waterford  and  Newburgh, 
for  twenty-three  years  professor  of  Homi- 
letics  at  Colgate,  was  born  in  South  Tren- 
ton. Mrs.  Helen  Barrett  Montgomery  was 
the  gift  of  the  church  in  the  same  place  to 
the  denomination  and  the  world. 

M.  J.  Winchester,  of  Oswego,  was  the 
twenty-third  man  to  enter  our  ministry  from 
the  little  church  in  Truthville,  Washington 
County;  W.  S.  Warren  of  Greene,  the 
thirty-third  man  from  the  church  in  Trux- 
ton.     E.  J.  Farley,  for  more  than  twenty 

[113] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

years  pastor  in  Oneonta,  and  one  of  the 
most  influential  men  in  that  section  of  the 
State,  came  from  Kingsbury,  near  Lake 
George.  C.  S.  Pendleton,  pastor  of  the 
Second  Church,  Oneonta,  long  prominent  in 
Free  Baptist  circles,  was  an  Oxford  boy. 
Thomas  O.  Conant,  thirty-five  years  on  the 
staff  of  ''  The  Examiner,"  with  great  pride 
showed  the  writer  the  house  in  Hamilton 
where  he  was  born.  John  B.  Calvert, 
preacher  and  so  long  president  of  our  Con- 
vention, came  from  a  Cortland  County  vil- 
lage. Curtis  Lee  Laws,  pastor  in  Baltimore 
and  Brooklyn,  now  the  versatile  editor  of 
our  great  denominational  journal,  is  the  gift 
of  a  little  town  in  Virginia.  Howard  B. 
Grose,  preacher,  professor,  author,  and 
editor  of  ''  Missions,"  was  born  in  Miller- 
ton,  N.  Y.,  where  his  father  was  pastor. 
Louis  J.  Gross,  thirty-three  years  pastor  of 
the  church  at  Barker,  was  a  boy  in  Inter- 
laken. 

T.  J.  Whitaker,  twenty-five  years  in  Bush- 
wick  Avenue,  Borough  of  Brooklyn,  re- 
ceived his  earliest  impressions  in  the  church 
at  Deposit.  His  nephews,  the  Briggs  boys, 
George,  of  Buffalo,  and  Charles  W.,  now  di- 
rector of  Bible  Schools  and  Young  Peo- 
ple's Work  in  New  York  State,  came  from 
the  same  church. 

[114] 


The  Country  Church  Once  More 

W.  S.  Clapp,  for  thirty  years  pastor  at 
Carmel,  easily  the  ablest  man  in  all  that  sec- 
tion of  the  State  east  of  the  Hudson  River, 
was  born  in  Stillwater.  Calvary  Church, 
Borough  of  Manhattan,  and  the  medical  pro- 
fession of  New  York  are  indebted  to  the 
little  town  of  Redwood  for  Dr.  Wendell  C. 
Phillips.  Nathan  Bishop,  one  of  the  most 
generous  and  useful  laymen  New  York 
ever  had,  was  the  gift  of  Vernon.  Ticon- 
deroga,  historic  and  picturesque,  was  the 
birthplace  of  Joseph  Cook,  whose  father  was 
a  Baptist  deacon  there,  and  of  A.  A.  Ken- 
drick,  professor  of  Shurtleff  College.  Una- 
dilla  gave  us  W.  J.  Quincy,  of  Schenectady, 
while  Harpursville,  not  far  away,  sent  A.  W. 
Bourne,  who  served  great  churches  in 
Gloversville,  Auburn,  and  Buffalo. 

Charles  E.  Hughes,  lawyer,  law  professor, 
governor,  associate  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  and  presidential 
candidate,  was  born  in  what  was  then  the 
village  of  Glens  Falls,  where  his  father 
preached.  L.  W.  Cronkhite,  missionary  to 
Burma,  was  his  boyhood  friend  in  the  same 
neighborhood. 

G.  W.  Lasher,  long  editor  and  proprietor 
of  "  The  Journal  and  Messenger,"  was  born 
in  Duanesburg.  William  I.  Knapp,  pro- 
fessor of  Romance  Languages  at  Colgate, 

[115] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

Vassar,  Yale,  and  Chicago,  and  author  of 
many  books  in  the  Spanish  language,  also 
diplomatic  adviser,  was  a  Greenport  boy. 
Henry  L.  Morehouse,  for  half  a  century  the 
most  potent  factor  in  shaping  and  carrying 
out  the  policy  of  our  great  Home  Mission 
Society  on  this  continent,  first  saw  the  light 
in  Stanford,  Dutchess  County,  while  Henry 
M.  Flagler,  the  oil  man,  came  from  Ham- 
mondsport. 

Last,  but  not  least,  William  Newton 
Clarke,  preacher,  author  and  theological 
professor,  known  and  admired  wherever 
our  language  is  spoken,  was  a  native  of 
Cazenovia,  where  his  father  served  the  vil- 
lage church. 

This  list  might  be  almost  indefinitely  pro- 
longed by  the  names  of  men  notable  in  all 
the  walks  of  life,  but  enough  instances  have 
been  given  to  establish  my  contention. 

At  the  close  of  a  service  in  a  large  church, 
in  which  the  writer  had  been  making  an 
appeal  for  the  rural  interests,  a  prominent 
man  said  that  if  he  were  in  my  place  as 
president  of  the  Convention,  he  would 
"  wring  the  necks  of  a  score  of  those  little 
churches  and  put  them  out  of  business." 
Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  spirit  of 
the  Nazarene  than  indiscriminately  to  close 
up  any  considerable  number  of  these  little 

[ii6] 


The  Country  Church  Once  More 

churches  in  the  country.  More  than  that,  it 
would  be  a  suicidal  policy,  because  of  the 
relation  they  sustain  to  all  our  denomina- 
tional activities. 

The  last  time  Gipsy  Smith  was  in  this 
country  he  was  given  a  great  reception  in 
one  of  the  Manhattan  churches  before  sail- 
ing for  home.  In  responding  to  some  com- 
plimentary words  that  had  been  spoken 
about  him  and  his  work,  he  said,  *'  Brethren, 
when  I  return  from  campaigns  like  this, 
where  I  have  been  signally  honored  of  God 
and  men,  I  go  into  a  little  room  in  my  home 
in  Cambridge,  England,  and  standing  before 
a  picture  on  the  wall,  a  rude  copy  of  the 
gipsy  wagon  in  which  my  mother  gave  me 
birth,  I  say  to  my  own  heart,  ^  Don't  be 
lifted  up;  there's  where  you  began.'  " 

So  my  brethren,  ministers  and  laymen,  in 
large  churches,  in  towns  and  cities,  let  me 
express  the  hope  that  you  will  not  be  lifted 
up,  or  forgetful  of  the  places  where  your 
real  life  began,  little  churches  in  far-off  rural 
localities  where  you  caught  your  first  vision 
of  life  and  its  possibilities,  here  and  here- 
after. Because  of  what  these  churches  have 
been  to  you  and  multitudes  like  you,  because 
of  what  they  now  mean  to  the  communities 
where  they  exist,  I  ask  you  to  help  us  keep 
them  open  that  they  may  go  on  doing  for 

[117] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

others  what  they  did  for  you.     Can  we  de- 
pend on  your  cooperation? 

Further  Illustrations 

The  many  kind  words  spoken  or  written 
about  the  preceding  paragraphs  on  the  coun- 
try church  as  a  source  of  supply  when  they 
appeared  as  an  article  in  "  The  Watchman- 
Examiner,"  leads  me  to  supplement  them 
with  further  illustrations.  In  that  article  I 
confined  myself,  with  one  exception,  to  men 
born  or  now  living  within  New  York  State. 
Now,  in  addition  to  native  New  Yorkers,  I 
cite  some  men  and  women  who  came  from 
other  territory.  On  a  closer  examination 
one  is  embarrassed  with  the  wealth  of  ma- 
terial, and  hardly  knows  where  to  begin  or 
to  end.  Some  one  else  compiling  a  list 
might  make  even  a  more  favorable  showing 
for  the  rural  church  without  repeating  the 
names  in  mine. 

Galusha  Anderson,  preacher,  author,  theo- 
logical professor,  and  college  president, 
came  from  Bergen,  Genesee  County;  Wal- 
lace Butterick,  pastor  in  New  Haven,  St. 
Paul,  and  Albany,  and  now  secretary  of  the 
General  Education  Board  from  Potsdam, 
St.  Lawrence  County;  L.  A.  Crandall,  of 
Owego,  New  York,  Cleveland,  Chicago,  and 

[ii8] 


The  Country  Church  Once  More 

Minneapolis,  from  Plymouth,  Chenango 
County.  Fanny  Crosby,  just  now  gone 
from  us  at  the  age  of  ninety-five,  author  of 
more  devotional  hymns  than  any  other 
singer  of  our  time,  came  from  Brewster, 
Putnam  County,  while  R.  E.  Burton, 
twenty-five  years  in  Delaware  Street  Church, 
Syracuse,  recently  deceased,  came  from 
Clyde,  Wayne  County. 

Theodore  Cuyler,  Presbyterian  preacher 
in  Manhattan  and  Brooklyn,  prolific  writer 
on  devotional  themes,  author  of  several 
books.  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
worker,  and  temperance  advocate,  was  al- 
ways grateful  for  his  childhood  days  in 
Aurora,  on  the  shore  of  Cayuga  Lake. 

Chester  A.  Arthur,  president  of  the 
United  States,  though  born  just  over  the 
line  in  a  Vermont  village,  spent  most  of  his 
early  years  in  Eastern  New  York  towns, 
where  his  father  served  Baptist  churches. 
The  pastor  of  one  of  these  churches  re- 
cently showed  the  writer  a  bathroom  that 
was  once  young  Arthur's  bedroom.  Grover 
Cleveland,  lawyer,  mayor,  governor,  presi- 
dent, was  born  in  a  Presbyterian  parsonage 
in  the  village  of  Caldwell,  N.  J.,  but  more 
than  twenty  years  of  his  life  were  passed  in 
Fayetteville,  Clinton,  and  Holland  Patent, 
towns  in  Central  New  York.     Martin  Van 

I  [119] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

Buren,  lawyer  and  president,  was  a  native 
of  Kinderhook,  Columbia  County.  Sam- 
uel J.  Tilden,  lawyer,  reformer,  governor, 
presidential  candidate,  and  benefactor  was 
the  gift  of  Nev/  Lebanon  in  the  same 
section. 

David  Jayne  Hill,  preacher,  professor, 
author,  college  president  (Bucknell  and 
Rochester),  assistant  secretary  of  state,  and 
our  representative  at  foreign  courts,  was 
licensed  by  the  church  at  Pawling,  Dutchess 
County,  where  his  father  was  the  preacher. 
C.  H.  Dodd,  pastor  in  Mount  Vernon, 
Newark,  Baltimore,  and  Philadelphia,  was 
a  boy  in  Almond,  in  the  southern  tier. 
James  ("  Jim  ")  Betts,  teacher,  lawyer,  jus- 
tice of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  a  farmer's 
son  in  the  open  country  in  Saratoga  County, 
where  the  writer  has  often  been.  Pharcellus 
Church,  preacher,  editor  of  "  The  Watch- 
man and  Reflector,"  Boston,  then  editor  and 
proprietor  of  ''  The  Chronicle,"  New  York, 
later  merged  with  "  The  Examiner,"  came 
from  Seneca,  now  Geneva,  N.  Y. 

Elmer  E.  Ellsworth,  colonel  of  Zouaves, 
personal  friend  of  Lincoln,  whose  premature 
death  so  deeply  stirred  the  hearts  of  the 
North  in  the  early  days  of  the  Civil  War, 
was  a  Mechanicsville  boy,  and  his  body  now 
lies  in  his  native  place. 

[  120] 


The  Country  Church  Once  More 

The  Dean  brothers,  Leonard  J.  and  Dele- 
van  D.,  both  came  from  Morrisville,  Madi- 
son County,  the  birthplace  of  William  Dean, 
their  illustrious  relative,  for  fifty  years  mis- 
sionary to  China.  Emily  C.  Judson  came 
from  the  same  church. 

William  Groom,  whose  early  taking  off 
brought  such  sorrow  to  the  churches  in 
Amsterdam  and  Ballston,  was  born  in 
Broadalbin,  Fulton  County,  where  his  fa- 
ther was  eighteen  years  pastor  of  the  church 
in  which  Jonathan  Wade,  fifty  years  mis- 
sionary to  Burma,  was  ordained  in  1823. 
Nearly  a  dozen  young  men  have  been  li- 
censed to  preach  by  this  church  since  then, 
Loren  Rowley,  of  Edmeston,  Clayton  Grin- 
nell,  of  Altoona,  Pa.,  and  the  writer,  among 
them.  Galway,  an  inland  town,  twelve  miles 
east,  is  where  Eugenio  Kincaid  was  or- 
dained and  served  as  pastor  before  going  as 
missionary  to  Burma.  Both  Wade  and 
Kincaid  were  members  of  the  first  seminary 
class  graduated  at  Hamilton  in  1822. 
Forty  years  ago  John  Humpstone  was  or- 
dained at  Galway,  serving  the  church  as 
pastor  for  one  year.  At  Vail  Mills,  a  mile 
west  of  Broadalbin,  where  the  writer  first 
went  to  school,  lived  W.  E.  Wait,  author  of 
"  Wait's  Law  and  Practice,"  a  series  of 
books  found  in  every  law  library  of  the  last 

[121] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

generation.  The  little  office  in  which  most 
of  the  work  on  the  earlier  volumes  was  done 
is  now  used  as  a  hen-house  by  one  of  the 
residents  of  the  village.  Duncan  Kennedy, 
a  notable  Presbyterian  minister,  was  born 
less  than  a  mile  away.  Ten  miles  west  is 
the  historic  village  of  Johnstown,  where 
Daniel  Cady  practised  law,  and  where  his 
famous  daughter,  Elisabeth  Cady  Stan- 
ton, was  born  and  reared.  Joshua  Day,  who 
was  stricken  in  Calvary  pulpit  in  Albany, 
left  a  business  position  in  Johnstown  to 
enter  the  ministry. 

Four  miles  south,  in  the  Mohawk  Valley, 
is  the  quaint  old  town  of  Fultonville,  the 
home  of  John  H.  Starin,  member  of  Con- 
gress and  founder  of  the  River  and  Harbor 
Transportation  Company,  New  York.  In 
Glen,  three  miles  away,  Abram  Vreeland,  the 
father  of  fifteen  children,  was  pastor  of  the 
village  church,  with  an  afternoon  appoint- 
ment at  Tribes  Hill,  the  southern  terminal 
of  the  Indian  Trail  between  the  Sacondaga 
and  Mohawk  rivers.  H.  H.  Vreeland, 
prominent  in  street  and  steam  railway  cir- 
cles of  the  country,  was  born  in  the  Glen 
parsonage.  On  a  recent  visit  there  with 
the  writer,  he  found  in  the  garret  of  the  old 
house  the  cradle  in  which  his  mother  rocked 
him. 

[  122] 


The  Country  Church  Once  More 

A  little  farther  up  the  valley,  on  the  north 
side,  back  of  Herkimer,  the  home  of  United 
States  Senator  Warner  Miller,  is  the  little 
village  of  Newport,  where,  in  the  Baptist 
parsonage,  was  born  W.  C.  Brown,  many 
years  president  of  the  New  York  Central 
Lines.  Still  further  on  is  Deerfield,  a  sub- 
urb of  Utica,  where  Horatio  Seymour, 
lawyer,  historian,  and  governor  lived.  Nine 
miles  south  we  come  to  Clinton,  seat  of 
Hamilton  College  and  the  home  of  Elihu 
Root,  lawyer,  secretary  of  state,  secretary  of 
war.  United  States  senator,  and  Nobel  Prize 
man.  Three  generations  of  the  Roots  were 
born  here. 

President  Schurman  of  Cornell,  Charles 
A.  Eaton,  of  the  Borough  of  Manhattan, 
W.  B.  Wallace  of  Rochester,  J.  A.  Huntley, 
of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  A.  A.  Shaw,  of  the 
Borough  of  Brooklyn,  all  came  from  towns 
in  Nova  Scotia,  or  near-by  Provinces. 

Miss  Huntley,  of  Rochester,  the  friend 
of  all  good  causes,  was  a  girl  in  a  little 
church  in  the  Oswego  Association.  E.  B. 
Shallow,  teacher,  lawyer,  and  now  associate 
superintendent  of  public  schools,  of  Greater 
New  York,  and  Sereno  Payne,  thirty  years 
in  Congress  (lately  deceased),  were  both 
Hamilton  boys.  Of  the  thirteen  men  who 
formed  the  Baptist  Education  Society  of  the 

[  123  ] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

State  of  New  York,  eight  were  from  Hamil- 
ton, the  other  five  from  the  neighboring 
villages  of  Eaton,  Lebanon,  Hartwick,  and 
Fabius. 

John  Peck,  a  pioneer  in  State  Convention 
and  home  mission  work,  the  organizer  of 
many  churches,  and  long  pastor  at  New 
Woodstock,  N.  Y.,  was  born  in  Milan, 
Dutchess  County.  Fifteen  young  men  went 
into  the  ministry  from  the  New  Woodstock 
church  during  that  pastorate,  among  them 
his  own  sons,  Linus  M.  and  Philetus  B., 
whose  memories  are  still  green  in  the 
churches  at  Hamilton  and  Owego.  These 
rare  young  men  both  died  in  the  same  week 
of  October,  1847. 

Jacob  Knapp,  the  great  evangelist,  was 
from  Otsego  County ;  Andrew  K.  Fuller,  of 
Kingston,  with  thirteen  other  ministers 
from  Masonville,  Delaware  County;  G.  W. 
Northrup,  preacher,  theological  professor  at 
Rochester,  and  afterward  president  of  Chi- 
cago Theological  Seminary,  came  from  Ant- 
werp, Jefferson  County,  not  far  from  the 
birthplace  of  Frederic  Remington,  painter 
and  sculptor.  W.  R.  Wilcox,  teacher, 
lawyer,  writer,  park  commissioner,  post- 
master, and  public  service  commissioner  of 
New  York  City,  is  a  native  of  Smyrna,  Che- 
nango County;  Alvah  Hovey,  preacher,  au- 

[124] 


The  Country  Church  Once  More 

thor,  and  president  of  Newton  Theological 
Institution,  of  Greene,  a  little  further  down 
the  valley.  The  Meyers  brothers,  Cortland, 
of  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  and  Johnston, 
of  Chicago,  are  natives  of  Kingston-on- 
Hudson.  Henry  M.  Sanders,  pastor  in 
Yonkers  and  Manhattan,  came  from  Homer, 
Cortland  County. 

Robert  Stuart  MacArthur,  forty-one 
years  pastor  of  Calvary  Church,  Manhattan, 
author  of  many  volumes,  lecturer,  and  presi- 
dent of  the  Baptist  World  Alliance,  came 
from  Dalesville,  Quebec ;  John  Peddie,  from 
Ancaster,  Ontario,  and  A.  W.  Rogers,  of 
Schenectady,  from  Brantford,  in  the  same 
Province. 

Chester  Fairman  Ralston,  pastor  in 
Yonkers,  contributing  editor  of  "  The 
Watchman-Examiner,"  was  born  in  Fair- 
view,  Ohio ;  A.  E.  Knapp,  of  Amsterdam,  in 
Pierrepont,  N.  Y. ;  J.  M.  Hutchinson,  of 
Calvary  Church,  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  in  Rich- 
ford.  William  H.  King,  thirty  years  pastor 
in  Owego,  came  from  the  little  village  of 
Wellsbridge;  his  nephew,  William  Harvey 
King,  M.  D.,  of  New  York,  author  and 
lecturer,  from  near  Waverly.  M.  W.  Wells, 
author  of  "  Holy  Spirit,  Faithful  Guide," 
was  a  farmer  near  Hartwick,  Otsego 
County,  and  was  in  the  barn  alone  husking 

[  125  ] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

corn  on  a  dark  autumn  day  when  the  in- 
spiration to  write  the  hymn  came  upon  him. 
The  Negus  brothers  came  from  Taberg, 
Oneida  County;  the  Penny  brothers  from 
Unadilla  Forks,  Otsego  County;  the  Vose 
brothers  from  Spencer,  Tioga  County;  H. 
C.  Colebrook,  of  Gloversville,  from  Caze- 
novia;  W.  C.  Taylor,  of  Owego,  from  Jay, 
in  the  Adirondacks;  Edward  Babcock,  of 
McKeesport,  Pa.,  from  Constantia,  Oswego 
County. 

The  Hunt  brothers,  Rye  of  them,  Eben, 
Horace,  James  M.,  Emory  W.,  and  Garrett, 
were  all  born  in  the  village  of  East  Clarence, 
near  Lake  Ontario,  where  their  father  was 
pastor  the  larger  part  of  his  life. 

Marcus  C.  Mason  and  Elnathan  G. 
Phillips,  more  than  forty  years  missionaries 
in  Assam,  both  came  from  rural  places  in 
New  York  State.  E.  W.  Clark,  forty-one 
years  in  the  Naga  Hills,  Assam,  and  James 
B.  Simmons,  pastor  in  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia, secretary  of  the  Home  Mission  and 
Publication  Societies,  also  founder  of  col- 
leges in  the  South,  were  boys  together  in 
Dutchess  County.  John  Mason  Peck,  pio- 
neer in  home  mission  work,  "  Prophet  of  the 
Prairies,"  was  born  in  Litchfield,  Conn.,  the 
town  that  gave  us  Beecher,  Bushnell,  E.  P. 
Farnham,  and  Charles  G.  Finney. 

[  126  ] 


The  Country  Church  Once  More 

Many  other  names  equally  famous  and 
worthy,  might  be  added  to  this  list,  but 
space  will  not  permit.  Those  already  men- 
tioned emphasize  and  illustrate  the  value  of 
'the  rural  church  as  a  factor  in  community 
life  and  are  an  unanswerable  argument  for 
its  maintenance.  Whether  the  rural 
churches  are  doing  the  work  they  once  did 
or  ought  to  be  doing  now  is  an  open  ques- 
tion which  may  be  considered  in  another 
article.  Meanwhile,  it  might  be  well  for 
some  one  to  show  us  what  the  churches  in 
great  cities  have  done  along  similar  lines. 


[127] 


rx 

THAT  COUNTRY  BOY  AGAIN 


THAT  COUNTRY  BOY  AGAIN 


The  boy  from  the  country  is  met  with  so 
often,  and  in  so  many  positions  of  great  re- 
sponsibility, that  we  are  coming  to  think  of 
him  as  well-nigh  ubiquitous.  On  every 
board,  in  every  meeting  of  men  representing 
large  financial  interests,  in  groups  of  philan- 
thropists planning  for  the  betterment  of  liv- 
ing conditions  in  our  cities,  in  the  legislative 
halls  of  the  State  and  the  nation,  the  boy 
from  the  country  is  always  a  factor  to  be 
reckoned  with.  Newell  Dwight  Hillis  re- 
cently said  that  eighty-five  per  cent  of  the 
leading  men  of  New  York  City  came  from 
the  farm  or  the  town.  Twenty-three  of  our 
presidents  were  country  bred,  and  more  than 
eighty  per  cent  of  the  ministers  of  all  de- 
nominations are  furnished  by  the  rural  sec- 
tions of  the  land.  A  religious  newspaper  is 
responsible  for  the  statement  that  if  all  the 
moneys  contributed  by  the  men  and  women 
who  spent  their  early  days  in  the  country 
were  suddenly  diverted  or  witheld,  the 
larger  part  of  our  educational,  benevolent, 
and  religious  institutions  would  have  to  sus- 
pend within  a  year.     Incredible  as  this  may 

[131] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

seem,  it  is  undoubtedly  true.  Since  prepar- 
ing the  former  articles  on  this  subject,  I 
have  been  amazed  at  the  material  calculated 
to  show  the  city's  indebtedness  to  the  coun- 
try places  for  what  they  are  all  the  while 
sending  to  it. 

Eliphalet  Nott,  preacher  and  educator, 
was  born  in  Ashford,  Conn.,  a  little  town 
not  far  from  Hartford.  As  the  near- 
est district  school  was  five  miles  away,  he 
was  taught  by  the  best  of  all  teachers,  his 
sister  and  his  mother.  Called  to  preach,  he 
began  his  ministry  in  Cherry  Valley,  N.  Y. 
In  two  years  he  was  invited  to  the  pastorate 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  church,  Albany, 
where  in  1806  he  preached  a  sermon  on 
"  The  Fall  of  Hamilton  "  that  made  him 
famous,  and  resulted  in  his  election  to  the 
presidency  of  Union  College,  Schenectady,  a 
position  he  held  for  sixty-four  years.  In 
1825  Union  had  passed  Harvard  and  Yale 
in  the  number  of  its  students,  and  for  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century  had  the  honor  of 
being  the  largest  college  in  the  country. 
Early  in  his  career  there,  he  was  one  day  rid- 
ing over  a  country  road  in  Dutchess  County, 
inquiring  for  a  blacksmith.  Some  one  told 
him  farmer  Potter  had  a  man  who  could 
shoe  a  horse.  While  Nott  was  waiting  for 
the  job  to  be  done,  two  little  boys  appeared 

[  132] 


That  Country  Boy  Again 


to  watch  the  process.  He  at  once  asked  the 
farmer  what  he  was  going  to  do  with  the 
boys,  suggesting  for  them  a  course  at  Union. 
The  boys  were  Alonzo  and  Horatio  Potter. 
Both  went  to  Union  and  were  graduated 
with  high  honor,  the  one  afterward  becom- 
ing bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  the  other  the 
bishop  of  New  York.  Alonzo  married 
Doctor  Nott's  daughter  and  nine  sons  were 
born  to  them,  "  all  men  of  conscience  and 
leadership,  who  were  intent  not  on  private 
gain,  but  on  the  common  good."  Clarkson 
N.  Potter,  a  lawyer  of  distinction,  served 
for  more  than  twenty  years  in  the  United 
States  Congress,  where  he  rendered  con- 
spicuous service.  Howard  Potter  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  United  States  Sani- 
tary Commission,  and  an  incorporator  of  the 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  and  of  the 
American  Museum  of  Natural  History, 
president  of  the  New  York  Society  for  Im- 
proving the  Condition  of  the  Poor,  and 
founder  of  the  State  Charities  Aid  Associa- 
tion. Robert  B.  Potter  was  a  soldier  of  the 
Civil  War,  rising  to  the  post  of  major-gen- 
eral. Edward  T.  Potter  was  a  musician  and 
architect,  devoting  himself  to  the  study  of 
the  housing  of  the  poor,  planning  model 
tenements.  Henry  C.  Potter  was  rector  of 
Grace  Church,  and  successor  to  his  uncle  as 


[  ^33  ] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

bishop  of  New  York.  Eliphalet  N.  Potter 
was  president  of  Union  and  Hobart  Col- 
leges. James  N.  Potter  was  a  colonel  in  the 
Civil  War.  William  A.  Potter  was  super- 
vising architect  of  the  Treasury  Department 
at  Washington.  Frank  H.  Potter  was  a 
musician  and  a  journalist.  Who  can 
measure  the  influence  exerted  in  the  various 
walks  of  life  by  these  nine  remarkable  men, 
sons  of  one  of  the  little  boys  whom  Doctor 
Nott  met  that  day  while  waiting  for  his 
horse  to  be  shod  by  farmer  Potter's  hired 
man?  Stephen  Smith,  now  past  ninety- 
five,  many  years  surgeon  at  Bellevue,  St. 
Vincent's,  and  Columbus  hospitals,  editor  of 
''  New  York  Journal  of  Medicine "  and 
"  American  Medical  Times,"  professor  of 
anatomy  and  clinical  surgery  in  Bellevue 
Medical  College,  author  of  medical  books, 
founder  of  the  American  Public  Health  As- 
sociation, creator  of  the  Health  Department 
of  the  State  of  New  York  and  of  the  New 
York  State  Lunacy  Commission,  served  as 
volunteer  surgeon  in  the  Civil  War,  as  com- 
missioner of  health  in  New  York  City,  as  a 
member  of  the  National  Board  of  Health 
and  of  the  State  Bureau  of  Charities,  repre- 
sentative of  the  United  States  on  the  Inter- 
national Sanitary  Commission,  Paris,  1894, 
was  born  at  Spaff ord,  near  Skaneateles  Lake, 

1 134] 


That  Country  Boy  Again 


Onondaga  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  now  has 
a  summer  home. 

Henry  C.  Vedder,  author,  preacher,  many 
years  on  the  editorial  staff  of  *'  The  Exami- 
ner "  and  a  professor  in  Crozer  Theological 
Seminary,  came  from  DeRuyter,  Madison 
County,  N.  Y. ;  Truman  J.  Backus,  fifteen 
years  professor  of  English  Literature  in 
Vassar  College,  and  then  to  the  end  of  his 
life  president  of  Packer  Collegiate  Institute, 
Borough  of  Brooklyn,  came  from  Milan, 
Dutchess  County,  N.  Y. ;  Leveret  F.  Crumb, 
lawyer  and  mayor  of  Peekskill,  from  a  New 
Jersey  village  where  his  father  was  pastor. 
Dr.  Albert  Coit,  pastor  at  Wellsville  and 
Hornell,  financial  secretary  of  Cook  Acade- 
my, and  for  nearly  forty  years  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  New  York 
State  Convention,  came  from  Central 
Square ;  Jabez  Ford,  his  brother.  Dr.  Smith 
T.  Ford,  of  Chicago,  his  son,  Spencer  J. 
Ford,  of  New  York,  and  his  nephew,  W.  J. 
Ford,  of  Albion,  New  York,  all  came  from 
Camden  in  New  York  State.  Rev.  C.  W. 
Brooks,  for  forty  years  connected  with  the 
New  York  State  Convention,  and  author 
of  *'  A  Century  of  Missions  in  the  Empire 
State,"  was  born  in  Solon;  the  Kneeland 
brothers.  Rev.  F.  W.  and  Rev.  L  S.  Knee- 
land,  came  from   Strykersville ;  J.   Bying- 


[135] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

ton  Smith,  from  Schroon  Lake;  George  B. 
Stevens,  professor  in  Yale  University  Di- 
vinity School,  author  of  commentaries  and 
theological  text-books,  from  Spencer;  An- 
son Burlingame,  statesman  and  diplomat, 
negotiator  of  important  treaties  with  China 
in  1868,  came  from  Otsego  County,  where 
I  saw  a  tablet  marking  his  birthplace.  Dr. 
J.  N.  Murdock  was  born  in  Oswego  when 
it  was  only  a  village.  W.  N.  Sage,  fifty- 
one  years  in  the  Sunday  School  of  the 
First  Church,  Rochester,  as  scholar,  sec- 
retary, teacher,  superintendent,  and  Bible 
class  leader,  came  from  Ballston  Spa.  Dr. 
Martin  B.  Anderson  said  that  the  first 
twenty  years  of  growth  and  prosperity  of 
the  University  of  Rochester  were  due  to 
Mr.  Sage's  wisdom  and  sacrifice.  Charles 
T.  Brockway,  who  taught  a  Bible  class  in  the 
First  Church,  Syracuse,  larger  than  the  aver- 
age preacher's  congregation,  was  a  Broadal- 
bin  boy,  where  his  father  was  an  honored 
deacon.  John  W.  Allis,  an  official  member 
of  the  Baptist  Temple,  Borough  of  Brook- 
lyn, and  a  leading  factor  in  the  Utica  Knit- 
ting Company,  came  from  Philadelphia, 
N.  Y.,  where  the  family  name  is  greatly 
revered.  Phillips  Phillips,  a  singing  evan- 
gelist before  Sankey's  day,  was  the  gift  of 
the     church     at     Cassadaga,     Chautauqua 

[  136  ] 


That  Country  Boy  Again 


County.  Isaac  M.  Haldeman,  thirty-three 
years  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  New 
York,  was  born  in  Concordia,  Pa.  George 
C.  Baldwin,  for  forty-five  years  pastor  of  the 
First  church,  Troy,  was  born  at  Pompton, 
N.  J. ;  John  W.  Olmstead,  long  editor  of 
"  The  Watchman  and  Reflector,"  was  born 
in  Schuylerville,  N.  Y. ;  Elisha  E.  L.  Taylor, 
pastor  of  Pierrepont  Street,  and  founder  of 
Strong  Place  Church,  in  the  Borough  of 
Brooklyn,  secretary  of  the  Home  Mission 
Society,  and  father  of  President  Taylor,  of 
Vassar  College,  was  born  in  Delphi  Falls, 
N.  Y.  A  stone  column  on  the  road  from 
Mount  Vernon  to  White  Plains  marks  the 
place  where  Daniel  O.  Tompkins,  vice-presi- 
dent, and  one  of  the  ablest  governors  of  New 
York  State,  was  born.  Not  far  away,  in  Pel- 
ham,  is  the  birthplace  of  William  Hague, 
pastor  of  strong  churches  in  Utica,  Boston, 
Providence,  Newark,  Albany,  and  New 
York.  John  W.  Sarles,  forty  years  pastor 
in  Bridge  Street,  Brooklyn,  came  from  Bed- 
ford; W.  F.  Benedict,  pastor  of  large  vil- 
lage churches  in  Central  New  York,  from 
the  open  country,  in  Delaware  County ;  J.  O. 
Mason,  forty-six  years  in  the  Bottskill 
Church,  Greenwich,  from  Fort  Ann ;  W.  W. 
Everts,  pastor  in  New  York  and  Chicago, 
from  Granville ;  Professor  Sprague,  superin- 


[137] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

tendent  of  education  in  Utica,  from  Moriah. 
George  Fenton,  whose  life  has  been  spent  in 
educational  work,  still  owns  the  farm  on 
which  he  was  born  in  Broadalbin.  Ira  Har- 
ris, lawyer.  State  senator,  Supreme  Court 
judge,  successor  to  W.  H.  Seward  in  the 
United  State  Senate,  promoter  of  higher 
education  as  trustee  of  Union,  Vassar,  and 
Rochester,  twice  member  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  New  York  State,  and 
official  of  Emmanuel  Church,  Albany,  was 
born  in  the  little  village  of  Charleston, 
Montgomery  County;  Friend  Humphrey, 
Albany  business  man,  constituent  member 
of  the  First  Church,  several  terms  mayor  of 
the  city  and  State  senator,  was  born  in  Sims- 
bury,  Conn.  "  No  improvement,  no  enter- 
prise, no  mission,  and  no  charity  that  com- 
mended itself  to  the  wise  and  liberal  was 
without  his  aid."  E.  H.  Harriman,  financier 
and  railway  magnate,  was  born  in  Hemp- 
stead, L.  L,  where  his  father  was  rector  of 
the  Episcopal  church.  Frederick  Under- 
wood, president  of  the  Erie  and  allied  lines, 
came  from  a  Wisconsin  village  where  his 
father  was  a  successful  Baptist  minister. 
The  Perry  brothers — George,  preacher,  Jo- 
siah,  lawyer,  and  Lincoln,  business  man — 
came  from  Boonville.  The  Hale  brothers — 
Albert  C,  of  Brooklyn,  George  D.  and  Wil- 

[138] 


That  Country  Boy  Again 


Ham  B.,  of  Rochester,  all  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
men  in  the  University  of  Rochester — came 
from  Adams,  Jefferson  County.  R.  J. 
Thompson,  associational  missionary  in  the 
north  country,  was  a  boy  in  Vermont.  W. 
B.  McNinch,  just  entering  the  service  of  the 
New  York  State  Convention,  was  born  in 
Livingston  County,  N.  Y.  Russell  H.  Con- 
well,  lawyer,  war  correspondent,  author, 
lecturer,  and  preacher,  with  his  cousin,  John 
D.  Pease,  the  piano  manufacturer,  was  born 
in  the  little  town  of  Worthingham,  Mass. 
Elmer  Burritt  Bryan,  high  school  teacher, 
professor  in  two  colleges,  commissioner  of 
education  in  the  Philippines,  president  of 
Franklin  College,  Indiana,  and  now  presi- 
dent of  Colgate  University,  was  born  in  a 
log  cabin,  built  by  his  father's  own  hands,  in 
the  woods  of  Ohio.  Washington,  Jefferson, 
Clay,  Webster,  Lincoln,  Beecher,  Bushnell, 
Austin  Phelps,  Garfield,  McKinley,  John 
Hay,  and  Woodrow  Wilson  were  all  country 
boys. 

What  these  men  have  been  in  the  places 
where  their  lot  in  life  was  cast,  the  factors 
they  became  in  business,  in  the  educational, 
political,  and  religious  life  of  the  world,  was 
largely  due  to  the  influences  that  came  upon 
them  in  their  early  days,  inspiring  them  with 
high  ideals,  molding  their  characters,  safe- 

[  139] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

guarding  them  against  evil,  and  filling  them 
with  achieving  power.  Of  course,  there  is 
something  in  breeding,  for  "  blood  tells  in  a 
man  as  well  as  in  a  horse."  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  on  his  seventieth  birthday,  in  the 
Academy  of  Music,  crowded  with  Brook- 
lyn's best  citizens  to  honor  him,  said,  "  I 
am  what  I  am  by  the  grace  of  God  and  Ly- 
man and  Roxanna  Beecher."  The  accumu- 
lated tendencies  toward  high  and  noble  liv- 
ing for  generations  past  were  gathered  up 
and  centered  in  him,  and  he  gratefully  recog- 
nized it.  The  same  is  true  of  many  of  us. 
We  do  not  always  know  who  is  living  and 
speaking  in  us.  Ancestral  hands  beckon 
some  up  and  on,  while  they  drag  others 
down.  It  works  both  ways,  but  never  so  as 
to  interfere  with  our  responsibility. 

There  is  also  something  in  environment, 
though  it  must  not  be  made  too  much  of. 
Bunyan's  "  genius  blossomed,"  and  he  wrote 
his  immortal  work  within  prison  walls  at 
Bedford,  while  Burns  at  Ayr  lived  under 
the  same  roof  with  the  cattle.  In  spite  of 
these  exceptions,  fresh  air,  exercise  in  the 
open,  with  pure  wholesome  food  and  plenty 
of  sleep,  must  tell  in  the  development  of  the 
boy.  Educational  equipment  in  the  country 
is  likely  to  be  meager,  but  a  real  teacher  now 
and  then  is  found  in  "  the  little  red  school- 

[140] 


That  Country  Boy  Again 


house."  One  such,  with  but  little  of  the 
training  of  the  schools,  laid  his  hand  upon 
my  head  in  Vail's  Mills,  where  I  first  went 
to  school,  and  the  touch  of  his  hand  is  felt 
yet.  He  knew  how  to  help  a  boy  find  him- 
self. Forty-nine  years  ago,  when  I  went 
into  Edward  Judson's  classroom  in  Hamil- 
ton, fearful  lest  I  could  not  go  on  because  of 
inadequate  preparation,  he  put  his  arm  about 
me,  assuring  me  of  sympathy  and  help,  and 
I  have  been  the  stronger  for  it  ever  since. 

Then  the  church  and  its  services,  with  its 
associations  of  godly  men  and  women,  is 
even  a  greater  factor  in  the  process.  A  man 
in  Buffalo,  where  I  had  made  an  appeal  for 
the  rural  church,  followed  me  into  the  pas- 
tor's study  and  wrote  a  check  for  one  hun- 
dred dollars  to  help  keep  one  open,  because 
of  what  the  church  of  his  boyhood  days  had 
meant  to  him.  In  fostering  such  churches 
we  are  also  helping  the  cities  with  their  per- 
plexing problems,  for  one  is  a  vital  factor 
in  the  other.  "  If  you  would  save  the  na- 
tion, you  must  care  for  the  town.  The  life 
of  New  England  began  in  the  church  and  the 
schoolhouse  at  the  crossroads,"  said  a  Yale 
College  president.  My  father  at  the  close  of 
a  hard  day's  work  in  winter,  threshing  or 
chopping,  used  to  take  me  on  his  back  and 
never  put  me  down  till  he  reached  the  old 

[141] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

Broadalbin  church,  more  than  two  miles 
away,  where  a  revival  was  in  progress,  then 
go  back  over  the  same  lonely  road  after 
meeting,  whistling  or  singing  as  he  went. 
Did  that  service  mean  anything  to  me  at  the 
age  of  seven?  Yes,  indeed,  for  the  appeal- 
ing face  of  the  preacher  has  been  with  me 
through  all  the  years,  and  Deacon  Kasson's 
voice  leading  the  congregational  singing  of 
the  old  hymn 

The  judgment-day  is  rolling  round, 
Prepare  to  meet  thy  God, 

is  ringing  in  my  ears  yet.  These  are  the 
influences  that  put  iron  into  the  blood  of 
the  boys  and  girls  in  the  rural  regions,  and 
contribute  so  largely  to  their  after-careers. 
In  a  magazine  article  on  the  ''  Things  that 
Influenced  me,"  Eliot,  of  Harvard,  summed 
all  up  by  saying,  "  I  happened  to  have  a 
mother."  On  his  return  from  a  summer  in 
England,  Henry  W.  Bellows  met  Robert 
Collyer  on  the  street  in  New  York  and  said : 
''  Now,  Robert,  I  know  where  you  got  your 
outfit,  I  have  been  in  Yorkshire  and  met 
your  dear  old  mother."  "  There  are  fa- 
thers and  mothers  whose  children  are  or- 
phans, God  pity  them,"  said  Victor  Hugo. 
The  home,  the  school,  and  the  church,  these 

[  142] 


That  Country  Boy  Again 


are  the  three  great  factors  in  our  country 
problem.  The  State,  with  such  men  as  John 
H.  Finley,  is  trying  to  make  the  school  more 
helpful.  The  minister's  task  is  with  all 
three,  more  particularly  the  home  and  the 
church. 


[143] 


CAUSES  OF  WEAKNESS  AND 

INEFFICIENCY  IN  THE 

CHURCHES 


CAUSES  OF   WEAKNESS  AND 

INEFFICIENCY  IN  THE 

CHURCHES 


Let  it  be  clearly  understood  at  the  outset 
that  I  make  a  distinction  between  weakness 
and  inefficiency.  Some  churches  are  weak 
in  numbers,  in  social  standing,  and  in  ma- 
terial things,  but  strong  in  achievement  and 
splendidly  efficient.  Well  organized  and 
well  led,  they  are  serving  effectively  their 
own  community,  and  are  meeting  all  their 
financial  obligations  for  current  expenses, 
and  for  kingdom  work  the  world  over. 
Weak  but  efficient ! 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  churches 
strong  numerically,  socially,  and  materially, 
but  wo  fully  inefficient.  Poorly  organized 
and  without  leadership,  they  aim  at  no  goal 
and  reach  it.  Strong  but  wretchedly  ineffi- 
cient. Nor  are  the  weak  and  inefficient 
churches  limited  to  any  one  locality.  They 
are  to  be  found  in  city,  town,  and  country, 
and  perhaps  in  almost  equal  proportions. 

What  are  some  of  the  causes  of  weak- 
ness ? 

[147] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

I.  The  Shifting  of  Population  and  Con- 
centration of  Peoples  in  the  Centers.  After 
making  a  tour  of  Scoharie  County  I  found 
that  there  were  three  thousand  less  people 
there  than  fifty-five  years  ago,  before  the 
Civil  War.  The  population  of  the  Empire 
State  has  doubled  and  trebled  within  that 
time.  What  has  happened  there?  Where 
are  the  people?  Gone  to  Cobleskill,  One- 
onta,  and  Binghamton,  but  more  particularly 
to  Schenectady.  When  I  was  a  boy,  living 
north  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  Schenectady 
was  our  largest  near-by  town,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  ten  or  twelve  thousand,  streets  paved 
with  cobblestones  among  which  the  grass 
grew.  Now  they  have  more  than  a  hundred 
thousand — thirty  thousand  men  employed 
in  the  General  Electric  and  the  American 
Locomotive  Works  alone.  Where  have  they 
all  come  from  ?  From  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
but  especially  from  territory  within  fifty  to 
a  hundred  miles  away. 

Many  a  little  hamlet  that  was  once  self- 
contained,  thriving  and  growing,  has  had  the 
heart  taken  out  of  it.  All  life,  business,  edu- 
cation, and  religion  have  felt  the  pull  in 
other  directions.  One  town,  where  I  went 
last  summer,  has  only  twenty-three  pupils 
left  in  the  public  school,  in  which  formerly 
there  were  from  fifty  to  seventy-five.    So  it 

[148] 


Weakness  and  Inefficiency  in  Churches 

is  an  educational  as  well  as  a  religious  prob- 
lem. You  can  hardly  realize  how  many 
school  districts  have  been  wiped  off  the  map 
because  there  are  no  longer  children  enough 
to  maintain  a  school.  The  State  provides 
for  them  elsewhere  or  in  other  ways.  While 
it  has  become  increasingly  difficult  to  main- 
tain churches  in  these  localities,  we  cannot 
desert  them  and  turn  them  over  to  heathen- 
ism.   We  must  keep  the  altar-fires  burning. 

With  three  thousand  young  men  studying 
agriculture  in  the  schools  and  colleges  of  the 
State,  we  can  already  discover  a  trend  back 
toward  the  tilling  of  the  soil,  and  we  have 
reason  to  believe  that  into  many  of  those 
places  life  will  come  back  again.  Indeed,  I 
found  several  places  in  Cortland  and  Os- 
wego counties,  where  men  were  coming 
from  the  far  West  and  taking  up  farms  that 
had  been  abandoned  only  a  few  years  since. 
This  process  of  reclamation  is  likely  to  go 
on,  and  we  shall  have  a  duty  to  these  new- 
comers in  making  the  region  safe  for  them 
to  live  and  rear  their  families  in. 

Without  doubt  some  places  will  have  to 
be  given  up,  for  there  is  no  longer  a  con- 
stituency, perhaps  never  will  be.  Fifty  years 
ago  the  Adirondack  region  was  dotted  all 
over  with  great  tanneries.  Hides  were 
hauled  in  from  all  the  great  railway  lines, 

[149] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

tanned  into  sole-leather,  and  then  hauled 
back.  Now  hardly  a  tannery  can  be  found 
in  all  that  section  of  the  State,  because  the 
supply  of  hemlock  bark  has  given  out.  It 
would  be  just  as  reasonable  to  insist  upon 
keeping  up  the  tanning  business  in  the  Adi- 
rondacks,  without  bark,  as  to  insist  upon 
keeping  up  churches  in  places  where  there 
are  no  longer  any  people,  for  people  are  as 
essential  to  the  maintenance  of  a  church  or 
school,  as  logs  to  a  sawmill,  or  hemlock  bark 
to  a  tannery.  In  Lewis  County  I  learned 
there  were  six  thousand  less  people  than  be- 
fore the  Civil  War.  These  are  concrete  il- 
lustrations of  what  has  been  going  on  over 
the  State  and  the  country,  creating  for  us 
the  "  Country  Church  Problem." 

2.  The  Frequent  Changes  in  the  Pastor- 
ate. Some  men  do  not  remain  on  the  field 
long  enough  to  make  or  carry  out  a  policy. 
On  the  lookout  for  something  easier,  they 
run  away  from  difficulties  in  one  place,  only 
to  find  them  reappearing  in  the  same  or 
other  forms  elsewhere.  A  young  man  wrote 
Mr.  Beecher,  intimating  that  he  wanted  an 
"  easy  place."  Mr.  Beecher  advised  him  not 
to  enter  the  ministry,  medicine,  or  the  law, 
but  to  ''  get  six  feet  of  earth,  dig  a  hole,  and 
get  into  it,  for  the  grave  is  the  only  easy 
place  in  this  world." 

[150] 


Weakness  and  Inefficiency  in  Churches 

One  man  who  had  had  many  pastorates 
confessed  to  me  that  he  had  lost  his  temper 
and  resigned  an  early  pastorate  to  get  away 
from  a  cantankerous  deacon  named  Jones. 
Now  he  acknowledges  that  he  has  found 
Deacon  Jones,  though  not  always  bearing 
that  name,  in  every  place  to  which  he  has 
since  gone,  the  same  difficulty  reappearing 
in  other  forms  in  every  field.  How  much 
better  to  gird  oneself  and  conquer  "  Deacon 
Jones  "  at  the  outset !  I  have  seen  a  flock  of 
birds  hovering  about  the  top  of  a  tree,  as  if 
ready  to  light,  when  another  impulse  seized 
them  and  away  they  would  go.  Just  what 
some  men  do,  flutter  over,  and  hover  about 
a  field,  but  never  light  and  grapple  with  the 
problems  incidental  to  the  place.  The 
churches  are  suffering  incalculable  harm 
from  that  sort  of  thing.  Sometimes  it  is  the 
fault  of  the  man  in  the  pulpit,  sometimes  of 
the  people  in  the  pew,  and  frequently  both 
parties  are  at  fault. 

At  the  150th  anniversary  of  the  Bottskill 
Church  at  Greenwich,  N.  Y.,  the  other  sum- 
mer, I  saw  a  memorial  window  to  Rev.  J.  O. 
Mason,  forty-six  years  pastor,  and  another 
to  Rev.  Barber,  thirty-eight  years  pastor, 
and  Rev.  Thomas  Cull,  who  was  sixteen 
years  pastor,  sat  in  the  audience.  Three 
men  covered  a  hundred  out  of  a  hundred 

L  [151] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

and  fifty  years  of  that  church's  history.  No 
wonder  that  the  church  is  strong,  and  that 
its  influence  reaches  out  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth. 

A  dear  old  lady  looked  out  of  the  window 
of  a  railway  car  just  as  the  train  was  pass- 
ing over  a  deep  gorge,  and  she  startled  the 
passengers  by  saying,  "  The  machine  has  left 
the  earth."  When  she  looked  out  again, 
terra  Urnia  was  in  sight.  "  Thank  God  she 
has  lit,"  was  her  reassuring  remark.  Men 
in  the  ministry  ought  to  light  on  these  fields, 
grapple  with  their  problems,  and  if  they 
find  conditions  difiicult,  remember  they  are 
there  to  change  them.  It  is  their  job — a  job 
that  cannot  be  turned  over  to  the  local  mis- 
sionary committee  or  State  Convention  ofli- 
cial.  If  everybody  and  everything  were  all 
right  on  these  fields,  conditions  ideal,  we 
should  all  be  out  of  business. 

3.  Lack  of  an  Adequate  Financial  Sys- 
tem. Churches  call  a  man  to  the  pastorate 
without  any  idea  of  where  the  money  is 
coming  from  to  support  him.  It  is  the 
Lord's  work,  they  reason,  and  somehow  it 
will  come  out  all  right.  With  a  good  deal 
of  gusto,  they  sing  that  old  hymn,  "  Some- 
how or  other  the  Lord  will  provide,"  and 
make  no  effort  to  provide  for  the  work 
themselves.     While  I  believe  in  the  senti- 

[152] 


Weakness  and  Inefficiency  in  Churches 

ment  of  that  hymn,  I  insist  that  the  Lord 
does  not  provide  through  our  folly  and  indo- 
lence, but  through  our  wise  and  careful 
planning  and  activity.  Nothing  goes  of 
itself  in  this  world  except  when  it  is  going 
down-hill.  Josh  Billings  declared  that  the 
way  was  greased  for  a  man  going  down- 
hill, and  when  a  man  begins  to  deteriorate 
every  circumstance  and  association  in  life 
does  seem  to  help  him  on  to  lower  levels,  but 
anything  that  goes  up  and  on  has  to  be 
pushed  up  and  on  with  a  strong  hand.  We 
recognize  this  in  farming,  in  education,  in 
business,  and  in  war,  but  not  in  the  realm  of 
religion,  and  yet  nowhere  is  it  more  im- 
portant. 

In  too  many  instances,  the  whole  financial 
management  of  the  church  has  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  picayune,  incompetent  men. 
When  people  in  a  church  or  community  hand 
checks  directly  to  the  pastor,  on  the  ground 
that  they  have  little  or  no  confidence  in  the 
men  who  are  managing  the  finances,  that 
church  is  cruelly  handicapped,  and  yet  just 
these  conditions  too  often  prevail.  Clean, 
clear-headed  young  business  men  sit  in  the 
pews  of  the  churches  with  no  responsibility 
laid  upon  them,  while  all  the  financial  inter- 
ests are  still  in  the  hands  of  feeble,  inefii- 
cient  men. 

[153] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

While  always  ready  to  honor  age,  char- 
acter, and  consecration,  I  do  contend  that 
the  very  best  brains  and  blood  in  the  mem- 
bership of  a  church  should  be  utilized  in  the 
solution  of  its  financial  problems.  Anyhow, 
the  church  will  never  come  into  its  own,  have 
the  place,  and  exert  the  influence  it  ought 
to  have  in  its  community,  till  it  comes  to 
higher  ground  financially.  At  .one  place 
I  was  making  this  point,  a  dear  old  man, 
looking  up  through  his  tears,  said,  *'  Doctor 
Granger,  I  want  to  die  in  the  harness."  He 
realized  that  the  carrying  out  of  my  sugges- 
tion might  eliminate  him  from  an  official 
position,  and  when  I  mentioned  the  incident 
in  another  place.  Mayor  Conover,  of  Am- 
sterdam, said,  "  It  makes  all  the  difference 
in  the  world  how  they  die  in  the  harness, 
whether  in  the  collar  or  in  the  breeching, 
pulling  or  holding  back."  Too  many  men  are 
dying  in  the  breeching,  and  the  churches  are 
crippled  because  of  it.  In  some  of  the  little 
churches  which  I  have  visited,  if  the  present 
organization  could  be  wiped  out  entirely  and 
a  new  beginning  made,  allowing  the  people 
to  elect  whom  they  please  to  official  position, 
there  would  be  a  chance  for  the  cause,  but 
not  under  present  conditions. 

These  are  hard  things  to  say  or  print,  but 
they  are  facts  and  must  be  faced.    The  great 

[154] 


Weakness  and  Inefficiency  in  Churches 

underlying  difficulty  is  the  failure  to  recog- 
nize the  giving  of  money  as  religious. 
Preaching,  praying,  singing,  and  speaking 
in  meeting,  these  are  all  religious,  but  the 
giving  of  money  is  a  sordid,  secular  affair. 
I  suspect  that  we  preachers  are  at  fault  for 
not  clarifying  the  popular  mind  on  this 
point.  When  going  into  the  pulpit  of  a 
large  church  I  am  sometimes  cautioned  by 
the  pastor  in  a  whisper  not  to  say  much 
about  money  there,  the  very  thing  for  which 
I  came.  He  is  afraid  to  speak  frankly  to  his 
own  people  along  these  lines,  and  afraid  to 
let  me  do  it. 

Why  do  so  many  of  our  churches  and 
missionary  organizations  come  to  the  end  of 
the  fiscal  year  with  deficits?  Because  the 
people  have  never  been  enlightened  on  the 
subject  of  stewardship,  the  Christian's  use 
of  money.  We  have  the  money,  we  never 
had  so  much,  and  our  scale  of  living  shows 
it.  Living  on  a  scale  four  or  five  times 
above  that  of  their  fathers  and  mothers,  the 
average  man  and  woman  in  many  a  rural 
church  is  giving  the  same  "  measly  "  five  or 
ten  dollars  given  by  their  fathers  or  grand- 
fathers fifty  or  sixty  years  ago.  They  are 
disposed  to  keep  the  church  on  the  same  low 
level.  They  ask  the  Lord  to  keep  the  minis- 
ter humble,  and  they  can  be  relied  upon  to 

[155] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

keep  him  poor.  Think  of  what  we  have  in 
the  way  of  comforts  today  as  compared  with 
former  days!  Electric  light,  steam  heat, 
telephone,  rural  free  delivery,  the  daily 
paper,  the  auto,  and  the  victrola,  and  so  on 
to  the  end  of  the  list. 

No  man  rejoices  more  than  I  in  all  that 
has  come  to  the  people.  I  would  not  take 
one  of  these  comforts  away  from  them  if  I 
could,  but  I  am  anxious  that  the  same  scale 
of  expenditure  should  be  carried  round  the 
whole  circle,  in  the  realm  of  religion  as 
elsewhere.  Why  not?  In  one  of  the 
churches  in  my  home  town  there  was  a  man 
with  a  wooden  leg,  who  always  sat  in  the 
"  amen  pews,"  at  the  left  of  the  pulpit. 
When  the  minister  began  to  warm  up  in 
his  sermon,  this  man  would  indulge  in 
shouting  and  handclapping,  even  thump  the 
floor  with  his  wooden  leg,  so  that  every  per- 
son in  the  house  felt  the  jar  of  it.  When  a 
man  came  into  that  pulpit  who  was  a  little 
more  finely  made  up  than  his  predecessors, 
this  man's  expressions  of  approval  got  on 
his  nerve,  and  he  suggested  that  the  con- 
tribution-box be  passed  to  him,  venturing 
the  opinion  that  he  would  be  ''  dumb  as  an 
oyster  "  in  a  minute,  and  he  was.  Clapping 
of  hands,  shouting,  and  thumping  the  floor 
was  positively  and  intensely  religious,  but- 

[156] 


Weakness  and  Inefficiency  in  Churches 

the  mere  mention  of  giving  money  utterly 
squelched  him. 

I  once  called  on  Dr.  William  Harvey 
King,  so  long  the  pastor  of  the  Owego 
church,  and  found  him  in  his  garden  hoeing 
among  tomato-plants  recently  put  out. 
After  speaking  of  the  fall  of  the  man  whom 
both  of  us  had  known,  he  called  attention 
to  a  tomato-plant  that  had  wilted  in  the 
sun  that  hot  morning,  and  proposed  to  locate 
the  cause.  With  one  or  two  strokes  of  the 
hoe  he  uncovered  a  great  white  gaib  that 
had  cut  off  the  plant.  "  There  you  are,"  he 
said,  "  a  worm  at  the  root ;  and  at  the  root 
of  nearly  all  lapses,  moral  or  otherwise,  you 
are  sure  to  find  a  worm."  After  ten  years 
of  service  in  our  State  work,  and  after  be- 
ing in  all  our  churches,  taking  time  for  a 
careful  study  of  conditions  in  some  of  them, 
I  am  confident  that  the  real  cause  of  weak- 
ness and  inefficiency,  **  the  worm  at  the 
root,"  in  city,  as  well  as  in  the  country  is 
an  inadequate  financial  system,  or  a  system 
improperly  worked.  The  average  church 
has  resources  equal  to  the  solution  of  its 
own  problems,  under  proper  leadership,  and 
with  a  real  business  management. 

4.  The  Lack  of  a  Sane,  Scriptural,  Per- 
sistent Evangelism.  Most  of  our  churches 
came  into  being  in  an  atmosphere  of  evan- 

[157] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

gelism,  and  what  was  essential  to  the  be- 
ginning of  organized  religious  life  in  the 
community  is  equally  essential  to  its  main- 
tenance. I  only  hint  at  this  point  here,  for 
elsewhere  I  have  devoted  a  whole  chapter  to 
evangelism.  This  lack  was  illustrated  in 
an  appalling  way  in  a  little  church  in  the 
open  country.  After  dwelling  upon  the  re- 
lation of  the  church  to  the  community,  and 
how  it  can  fulfil  its  mission,  I  inquired  about 
when  there  had  been  a  real  work  of  grace 
there,  and  no  one  seemed  to  know.  Draw- 
ing the  lines  a  little  tighter  I  asked  when 
there  had  been  a  baptism  there,  and  was  in- 
formed there  had  not  been  one  in  seven 
years.  The  next  question  revealed  the  fact 
that  twenty-three  had  been  lost  by  death  in 
that  time.  Think  of  it!  Out  of  a  little 
church  of  less  than  sixty  members  twenty- 
three  had  died  in  seven  years,  and  not  one 
had  been  added  on  confession  of  faith. 
That  little  church  represents  a  class  that  the 
*'  efficiency  experts  "  speak  of  as  ^'decadent," 
and  whose  only  remedy  is  to  combine  with 
other  organizations  in  the  same  condition, 
"  federation."  By  combining  weak  churches 
you  may  get  a  stronger  church,  but  you  will 
hardly  get  an  efficient  church  by  putting  to- 
gether several  inefficient  ones. 

In  the  light  of  experience,  history,  and  the 

[158] 


Weakness  and  Inefficiency  in  Churches 

Scriptures  I  insist  that  what  is  needed  in  all 
such  cases  is  a  new  vision  of  God,  of  our 
relation  to  him  and  to  the  world  that  always 
comes  in  a  genuine  religious  awakening.  In 
'nine  cases  out  of  ten  such  an  experience  lifts 
the  church  out  of  its  low  estate  and  starts  it 
on  a  new  career,  enabling  it  to  realize,  at 
least  in  part,  the  great  goals  of  our  "  Five 
Year  Program." 


[159] 


XI 

THE  AGED  AND  INFIRM 
MINISTER 


THE  AGED  AND  INFIRM 
MINISTER 


Allow  me  to  say  at  the  outset  that  I  am 
not  here  this  morning  from  my  own  choice. 
Very  reluctantly  have  I  consented  to  at- 
tempt a  service  for  which  I  feel  I  have  no 
special  qualification.  Four  weeks  ago  our 
Men's  Association  in  Mount  Vernon  had 
their  fall  reunion  and  banquet,  with  Dr. 
Kerr  Boyce  Tupper  as  the  guest  and  speaker 
of  the  evening.  Going  down  from  the  place 
where  the  men  had  assembled  to  the  supper 
room,  Brother  M.  H.  Pogson,  secretary  of 
this  society,  urged  me  to  use  my  influence  in 
securing  Doctor  Tupper  for  our  annual 
meeting,  on  Monday,  December  i8.  More 
than  once  during  the  evening  I  referred  to 
the  matter,  and  the  genial  doctor  assured  me 
that  in  case  he  found  his  calendar  clear  for 
that  date  he  would  gladly  serve  us.  A  week 
ago  last  Saturday  night  Secretary  Pogson 
called  at  my  home,  saying  that  the  commit- 
tee had  decided  I  ought  to  make  the  address. 

1  Delivered  under  the  auspices  of  the  Baptist  Ministers'  Home 
Society,  at  its  Twenty-second  Anniversary,  before  the  Baptist  Minis- 
ters' Conference  of  New  York  and  Vicinity. 


[  163  ] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

When  I  inquired  about  Doctors  Tupper, 
MacArthur,  and  other  eminent  brethren  who 
had  not  been  before  the  society,  he  told  me 
he  had  tried  them  all,  and  failed  because  of 
their  previous  engagements.  Now  he  was 
going  no  farther.  There  was  no  use  having 
men  like  me  on  the  Board  unless  we  some- 
times served  them.  I  thought  of  Dr.  Leon- 
ard Woods,  the  president  of  a  New  England 
college  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 
He  was  spending  a  summer  in  Europe. 
While  in  Paris  with  some  American  friends, 
he  was  invited  to  dine  with  Louis  Philippe, 
then  King  of  France.  On  the  day  appointed 
they  went  to  the  palace.  After  greetings  the 
king  said :  "  My  dear  Doctor  Woods,  we 
were  uncertain  about  your  presence  today. 
You  did  not  answer  our  invitation."  Equal 
to  the  occasion  Doctor  Woods  replied,  "  We 
thought  the  invitation  of  a  king  was  not 
something  to  be  answered,  but  to  be 
obeyed."  So  in  obedience  to  the  invitation 
of  the  royal  men  on  our  board  I  am  here 
this  morning. 

You  will  hardly  expect  anything  startling 
or  original  from  me  on  this  subject.  When 
William  M.  Taylor  was  invited  to  deliver  a 
course  of  lectures  before  the  Yale  Divinity 
School  in  1876,  he  recalled  the  fact  that 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  had  been  there  in 

[164] 


The  Aged  and  Infirm  Minister 

1872,  1873,  and  1874,  and  John  Hall  in 
1875;  so  he  began  his  lectures  in  this  way, 
"  What  shall  the  man  do  that  cometh  after 
the  king  ?  "  Remembering  that  Lorimer, 
Henson,  Johnston,  Conwell,  and  Stone  have 
preceded  me,  I  say  now,  ''  What  shall  the 
man  do  that  cometh  after  the  kings?  "  So 
much  in  the  way  of  introduction. 

Let  me  say  that  I  shall  not  dwell  upon  the 
question  as  to  whether  the  minister  is  an 
underpaid  man.  Some  of  my  predecessors 
have  gone  over  that  ground.  Sidney  Smith 
declared  that  brains,  like  any  other  commod- 
ity, were  worth  what  they  would  bring  in 
the  market.  You  may  differ  with  him.  My 
own  opinion  is  that  the  average  minister  gets 
about  what  he  would  have  received  in  any 
other  calling  into  which  he  might  have  gone. 
In  any  case,  that  was  a  matter  carefully  con- 
sidered before  we  decided  to  enter  the  minis- 
try. I  think  we  felt  then  what  we  believe 
now,  that  a  good  deal  of  the  best  work  done 
in  this  world  never  can  be  paid  for  in  dollars 
and  cents.  Having  decided  to  enter  the 
work  in  that  spirit,  and  with  that  under- 
standing, it  is  hardly  the  manly  thing  for 
us  to  whine  about  underpay  now.  Nor  am  I 
going  to  dwell  upon  the  "  meanness  of  the 
churches."  It  was  quite  the  thing,  when  I 
was  a  boy  in  this  conference,  for  the  breth- 

[165] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

ren  to  gather  about  a  lunch-table,  at  the 
close  of  the  Monday  morning  session,  to  talk 
over  their  experiences.  Often  did  the  older 
brethren  dilate  upon  the  meanness  and  pe- 
nuriousness  of  the  churches  and  their  offi- 
cial boards.  If  the  younger  brethren  looked 
incredulous,  they  were  assured  that  some- 
thing was  in  store  for  them  in  that  line  later 
on.  After  many  years  in  the  pastorate,  with 
not  one  hour  out  of  service  I  can  say  that  I 
know  nothing  of  what  the  brethren  were 
speaking  then.  With  a  large  part  of  my 
ministerial  life  spent  in  harmonizing 
churches  that  had  been  the  victims  of  unwise 
pastors,  I  must  say  what  may  be  a  very  un- 
popular thing  to  say  in  this  presence,  that 
my  sympathies  are  with  the  churches  rather 
than  with  the  pastors.  Thus  far  I  have 
been  treated  as  well  as  I  deserved.  I  might 
also  say  that  a  large  part  of  the  time  has 
been  spent  with  little  churches,  in  which  the 
salary  did  not  exceed  a  thousand  dollars  a 
year. 

Whenever  we  come  to  make  the  plea  in 
behalf  of  our  aged  or  infirm  brethren  certain 
suggestions  always  come  from  our  laymen. 
It  is  wonderful  how  fertile  the  laity  are  in 
suggestions  to  the  ministry.  .  If  they,  the 
ministers,  had  only  done  this  or  that,  they 
would  never  have  come  into  their  present 

ti66] 


The  Aged  and  Infirm  Minister 

condition.  In  many  cases  these  suggestions 
are  only  excuses  for  not  responding  to  our 
appeals.  Every  minister  ought  to  begin  his 
career  by  a  practice  of  the  most  rigid  econo- 
my, we  are  told — a  determination  not  only 
to  live  within  his  means,  but  to  lay  up  some- 
thing every  year.  Well,  I  think  the  average 
preacher  does  just  that  thing.  Most  of  the 
students  for  the  ministry  come  from  the 
lowly  walks  in  life,  from  homes  in  which,  in 
their  earliest  days  it  was  a  question  how  to 
"  keep  the  wolf  away  from  the  door."  With 
that  sort  of  training  they  enter  upon  their 
work,  with  the  habit  of  their  life  upon  them. 
I  know  one  minister,  who,  with  his  wife, 
began  in  that  way.  At  the  end  of  twenty- 
five  years  they  had  twenty-five  hundred  dol- 
lars to  invest  in  bonds.  That  amount  repre- 
sented just  what  they  received  in  marriage 
and  funeral  fees  for  that  period.  In  other 
words,  they  had  lived  within  their  means 
and  laid  up  that  amount.  I  imagine  that  is 
a  fair  sample  of  what  the  average  man  is 
doing.  Then  there  is  the  education  of  his 
children.  Without  fear  of  contradiction  I 
afifirm  that  no  class  of  men  do  more  for  their 
children  or  contribute  more  in  the  way  of 
efficient  men  and  women  for  all  the  varied 
callings  of  life,  business  and  professional, 
than  the  Christian  ministry.     Many  years 

M  [  167  ] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

ago,  when  Austin  Phelps  was  in  his  prime  at 
Andover,  he  made  a  careful  study  of  all  the 
men  in  the  seminary  as  to  their  antecedents 
— where  they  were  born,  the  character  of 
their  parents,  their  early  opportunities,  and 
training.  Out  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
men  he  found  that  one  hundred  and  ten,  or 
eleven-twelfths  of  them,  were  from  Chris- 
tian homes,  while  nearly  one-tenth  were  sons 
of  ministers.  A  careful  examination  of  the 
records  of  men,  eminent  in  nearly  all  the 
honorable  walks  of  life,  will  reveal  the  same 
thing.  At  a  recent  banquet  in  New  York,  in 
honor  of  a  great  railway  man,  the  guest  him- 
self, with  two  prominent  corporation  law- 
yers at  the  same  table,  were  sons  of  minis- 
ters. The  old  fling  at  ministers  about  their 
sons  going  wrong  is  not  true  then  ?  Not  at 
all.  It  is  a  malicious  slander  which  I  re- 
sent. When  my  first  boy  came  the  people 
began  to  warn  me  and  remind  me  of  the  old 
saying  about  clergymen's  sons  and  what  be- 
came of  them.  Finally  I  asked  them  to 
particularize,  to  mention  an  instance.  They 
named  the  son  of  a  pastor  who  had  lived  in 
that  community  twenty-five  years  before. 
If  you  go  into  that  town  this  afternoon  and 
the  conversation  turns  on  ministers'  sons, 
they  will  recall  that  wayward  boy  and  his 
career.    When  any  go  wrong  it  is  so  excep- 

[i68] 


The  Aged  and  Infirm  Minister 

tional  as  to  become  conspicuous,  and  the 
memory  of  one  boy  who  fell  abides  in  that 
town  fifty  years  after  he  has  gone  from  it. 
More  than  that,  the  average  minister  not 
only  lives  within  his  means,  laying  up  some- 
thing, and  educating  his  children,  but  he 
contributes  his  share  toward  the  financial, 
benevolent,  and  charitable  work  of  the 
church.  Rarely  does  he  urge  his  people  to 
go  where  he  does  not  lead  them  in  this  re- 
spect, and  with  every  increase  of  income 
there  is  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  de- 
mands made  upon  him.  I  can  truthfully 
say  this  morning  that  I  have  no  more  to 
spend  on  myself  now  in  the  way  of  luxuries, 
books,  or  travel,  than  I  had  when  on  a  salary 
of  a  thousand  dollars.  With  every  increase 
has  come  greater  demands.  Of  course,  there 
is  here  and  there  a  man  who  does  not  live 
within  his  means.  No  man  is  more  unspar- 
ing in  his  condemnation  of  such  than  I. 
These  are  the  men  who  scandalize  our  pro- 
fession, compromise  our  religion,  and  cru- 
cify our  Lord  afresh.  For  such  a  man,  who 
does  not  meet  his  obligations,  there  may  be 
a  place  somewhere,  but  certainly  not  in  the 
Christian  ministry.  But,  brethren,  let  me 
ask,  not  in  their  defense,  but  by  way  of  in- 
quiry, Why  should  the  laity  have  a  mo- 
nopoly of  that  sort  of  thing?    It  must  cer- 

[169] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

tainly  be  remarked  that  all  too  many  in  our 
pews  fail  in  that  respect. 

Again  we  are  told  that  our  ministers  ought 
to  be  better  business  men.  The  intimation  is 
that  destitution  at  last  is  due  to  his  incom- 
petency as  a  business  man.  Since  when  did 
the  minister  fail  in  this  respect?  My  own 
observation  has  led  me  to  believe  that  the 
success  of  the  average  church  is  due  more 
to  the  business  ability  of  the  man  in  the 
pulpit  than  any  other  man  in  it.  There  are 
exceptions,  I  admit,  but  if  the  ordinary 
church  official  transacted  his  own  business 
as  he  does  that  of  the  church,  he  would  go 
on  the  rocks  inside  of  a  year.  The  one  man 
who  stands  as  a  kind  of  unsleeping  sentinel 
over  it  all,  year  in  and  out,  is  the  pastor,  and 
when  a  critical  hour  arrives,  he  usually  comes 
to  the  rescue.  Nearly  all  our  great  denomi- 
national organizations  are  the  creations  of 
ministerial  brains — planned  and  financed  by 
ministers.  I  never  heard  the  late  secretary 
of  our  Home  Mission  Society  preach  a  ser- 
mon, make  an  address,  or  participate  in  a 
debate  that  I  did  not  say  to  myself.  Here  is 
a  man  who  could  have  conducted  a  great 
political  campaign,  organized  and  managed 
vast  business  interests,  or  distinguished  him- 
self in  the  legislative  halls  of  the  nation  had 
he  chosen  his  life-work  along  these  lines. 

[170] 


The  Aged  and  Infirm  Minister 

"  Much  every  way  "  are  the  words  that  de- 
scribe Dr.  Henry  L.  Morehouse,  and  this 
generation  will  never  appreciate  his  part  in 
the  solution  of  the  great  problems  of  our 
time.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  Doctors 
Ashmore,  Clough,  and  others  on  the  foreign 
field.  In  a  conference  of  ministers  and  lay- 
men a  few  years  since  at  the  Manhattan 
Hotel,  called  to  stimulate  interest  in  our 
educational  work  abroad.  Doctor  Mabie  an- 
nounced a  gift  of  ten  thousand  dollars  from 
Doctor  Ashmore,  the  veteran  missionary,  as 
the  first  contribution  toward  the  proposed 
endowment  of  half  a  million.  How  did  it 
come  about?  In  this  way.  Years  ago,  on 
his  own  judgment.  Doctor  Ashmore  in- 
vested some  funds  of  the  Missionary  Union 
where  he  was  confident  of  handsome  returns. 
The  members  of  the  board  in  Boston  disap- 
proved and  Doctor  Ashmore  assumed  the 
risk  himself.  Time  vindicated  his  wisdom 
in  the  matter,  and  now  he  is  able  to  lead  the 
movement  for  larger  educational  work  in 
the  East.  I  do  not  know  it  from  their  own 
lips,  but  I  have  been  told  that  both  Ash- 
more and  Clough  could  have  been  appointed 
to  high  positions  as  diplomats  at  Oriental 
courts  had  they  been  willing  to  turn  aside 
from  their  chosen  life-work.  When  General 
Grant  took  command  of  the  Army  of  the 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

Potomac  some  men  who  had  served  with 
him  in  the  West  were  invited  to  places  on 
his  staff.  Among  them  was  a  minister  who 
had  been  chaplain  of  the  old  regiment  raised 
and  commanded  by  Grant.  In  a  letter 
thanking  the  General  for  remembering  him 
he  said :  '*  I  hold  a  commission  from  One 
higher  than  any  earthly  commander,  and  he 
wants  me  to  preach.  Therefore  I  must  de- 
cline your  kind  offer."  That  is  the  spirit  in 
which  these  great  missionaries,  qualified  for 
any  position  in  the  gift  of  men,  have  gone 
about  their  work.  Multitudes  of  churches, 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  buildings,  hospitals,  and  re- 
formatory institutions,  at  home  and  abroad, 
are  monuments  to  the  organizing  and  finan- 
cial ability  of  the  minister.  If  then  a 
"  forlorn  hope  "  is  to  be  led,  anywhere  in  the 
community,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  a  min- 
ister will  he  found  to  lead  it  to  a  successful 
issue. 

We  are  reminded  further  that  the  min- 
ister should  have  been  more  careful  in  the 
investment  of  his  savings.  I  presume  this 
means  that  we  ought  to  put  the  little  we  have 
managed  to  lay  up  into  the  hands  of  the  lay- 
men to  invest  for  us.  Brethren,  is  not  this 
what  the  most  of  us  have  done?  What  has 
been  the  outcome?  Why,  we  have  awak- 
ened some  morning  not  to  find  that  ^'  moth 

[172] 


The  Aged  and  Infirm  Minister 

and  rust  have  corrupted,  but  that  thieves 
have  broken  through  and  stolen."  When  I 
came  to  my  present  field  twelve  years  ago 
some  of  my  brethren  in  a  former  field  re- 
minded me  of  my  obligation  to  myself  and 
family,  insisting  that  I  should  take  out  a 
large  policy  in  some  strong  life  insurance 
company.  In  that  way  I  would  be  com- 
pelled, out  of  my  increased  income,  to  lay 
up  more  each  year.  I  at  once  acted  on  their 
suggestion.  Just  here  my  blood  gets  quickly 
to  the  boiling-point  when  I  recall  the  sacri- 
fices made  by  me  and  my  family  to  keep  up 
that  policy.  If  we  get  anything  like  equity 
out  of  our  investment,  it  will  be  because  emi- 
nent thieves  have  fallen  out  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  '*  loot."  Similar  experiences 
have  we  had  with  savings  banks  and  build- 
ing and  loan  associations.  The  indifference 
of  eminent  laymen  on  their  boards  has  al- 
lowed presidents  and  cashiers  with  Wall 
Street  propensities  "  to  try  their  hands  " 
with  our  hard  earnings.  In  the  language  of 
General  Grant,  "  The  rascality  of  business 
partners  has  brought  us  to  the  verge  of 
ruin."  With  the  failure  of  our  little  invest- 
ment has  come  the  failure  of  health,  break 
in  our  work,  and  ultimately,  a  condition  of 
absolute  need,  obliging  us  to  look  to  others 
for  the  help  we  hoped  to  give  ourselves. 

[173] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

So  when  we  have  done  our  best,  lived 
within  our  means,  wisely  invested  the  little 
we  could  lay  up  after  educating  our  chil- 
dren and  bearing  our  part  in  the  financial 
work  of  the  kingdom,  some  of  us  will  come 
down  to  the  end  of  our  career  destitute.  Not 
a  large  number.  Less  than  sixty  out  of 
more  than  two  thousand  ordained  ministers 
in  the  three  States  in  which  we  do  our  work 
appeal  to  us  for  help.  Others  are  cared  for 
by  children,  friends,  or  churches  whom  they 
have  served.  Only  about  one  in  forty  are 
compelled  to  ask  for  aid.  This  is  a  re- 
markable showing.  Some  there  are,  and 
there  always  will  be  while  men  and  the  plans 
they  make  are  fallible.  It  is  inevitable. 
They  are  swept  out  or  carried  away  by  cir- 
cumstances over  which  they  have  no  control. 
It  is  idle,  when  that  inevitable  hour  comes, 
to  talk  about  what  they  ought  to  have  done, 
and  where  and  how  they  ought  to  have 
invested  their  funds. 

The  question  is  what  shall  be  done  for 
these  men  when  the  hour  of  need  comes? 
In  the  spirit  of  our  Lord  we  must  minister 
to  them  and  care  for  them.  We  must  do  this 
first  because  of  what  they  are,  what  they 
have  been  and  done.  The  heritage  into 
which  we  as  pastors  and  churches  have  come 
Is  ours  because  these  men  have  lived  and 

[  174  ] 


The  Aged  and  Infirm  Minister 

wrought.  The  ''  consummate  flower  of  our 
Christian  civilization  "  is  not  the  growth  of 
a  decade  or  century.  Its  roots  reach  back 
into  the  past.  The  seeds  out  of  which  it  has 
grown  were  planted  by  the  toils  and  watered 
by  the  tears  of  these  men. 

When  our  National  Anniversaries  were 
held  in  Washington  in  1888  I  went  to  Rich- 
mond, the  seat  of  the  Confederacy.  After 
visiting  the  historic  features  of  the  Capital, 
we  drove  out  over  the  Fredericksburg  road, 
visiting  the  whole  series  of  battle-fields  from 
Fredericksburg  to  Harrison's  Landing.  The 
most  impressive  hour  was  at  Old  Cold  Har- 
bor, where  McClellan  went  in  1862  and 
Hancock  made  the  awful  charge  in  1864. 
Grant  tells  us  that  the  only  regret  in  his  mili- 
tary career  was  the  giving  of  the  order  for 
that  charge,  for  nothing  was  gained  by  it. 
Ten  thousand  men  were  wounded  or  dead 
on  the  field  in  twelve  minutes.  A  tree, 
standing  in  a  stone-wall  toward  which  the 
men  rushed  for  shelter  was  trimmed  as  clean 
as  a  telegraph-pole,  and  stands  as  a  silent 
sentinel  over  the  scene  of  carnage  today.  A 
Grand  Army  man,  the  keeper  of  the  Na- 
tional Cemetery,  showed  us  where  he  lay 
helpless  among  the  dying  and  dead  for 
hours.  A  shell  had  torn  away  part  of  his 
side.     When  asked  if  otherwise  injured  he 

[175] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

showed  scars  received  at  Chancellorsville 
and  Seven  Pines.  Finally  lifting  his  cap, 
he  revealed  a  great  scar  from  a  saber-stroke 
in  the  Peach  Orchard  at  Gettysburg.  Draw- 
ing a  long  breath  I  ventured  to  remark  that 
the  enemy  was  near  to  him.  ''  Yes,"  he  re- 
plied, ''  and  I  was  just  as  close  at  hand." 
Then  in  a  lower  tone  he  said  it  was  the 
enemy's  last  thrust.  Every  drop  of  blood  in 
my  veins  tingled  as  I  stood  silent  in  the 
presence  of  that  man.  Brethren,  it  is  that 
sort  of  battle-scarred,  heroic  men  who  ap- 
peal to  us  for  help.  How  shall  we  respond 
to  their  appeal?  In  July,  1893,  I  was  at 
Gettysburg  at  the  dedication  of  the  New 
York  State  Monument.  It  was  on  Sunday 
afternoon,  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the 
battle.  Twenty-five  thousand  veterans  of 
the  battle,  marred  and  broken,  only  as  men 
can  be  in  deadly  conflict,  gathered  about  the 
speaker's  stand.  As  T  looked  from  the  plat- 
form into  their  faces  I  recalled  Sherman's 
words,  that  '*  War  is  hell."  In  his  opening 
words  General  Daniel  Sickles,  one  of  the 
commanders  in  the  fight  and  the  presiding 
officer  of  the  day,  said,  "  A  nation  that  does 
not  make  liberal  provision  for  its  defenders, 
will  some  day  be  without  defenders,  will  be 
unworthy  of  them."  So  I  say  a  great  de- 
nomination that  does  not  care  for  the  men 

[176] 


The  Aged  and  Infirm  Minister 

who  have  fought  its  battles,  defended  and 
propagated  its  principles,  made  it  what  it  is, 
may  some  day  be  without  defenders;  yes, 
will  be  unworthy  of  them.  You  will  remind 
me  that  some  of  our  needy  pastors  have  not 
served  long  or  achieved  much.  They  seem 
to  have  prematurely  faltered  by  the  way. 
We  recognize  that,  and  in  dealing  with  them 
attempt  to  discriminate  in  favor  of  the  men 
who  have  served  longest.  And  yet  our  re- 
ward in  the  great  day  will  not  be  according 
to  the  length  or  jnature  of  our  service.  Paul 
seems  to  emphasize  that  in  his  last  words : 
''  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown 
of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  right- 
eous judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day :  and 
not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that 
love  his  appearing."  Not  where  we  serve, 
or  what  we  do,  or  how  long  we  serve,  but 
the  spirit  in  which  we  do  what  we  do  will 
determine  our  reward. 

So  I  say,  because  of  what  these  men  have 
been  and  the  spirit  in  which  they  have  served 
we  must  respond  to  their  appeals.  "  Inas- 
much as  ye  have  done  it  to  the  least  of  these 
my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me."  Do 
not  fail  to  do  for  them,  and  you  do  not  fail 
to  do  for  Him.  We  must  do  this  for  them, 
secondly,  because  they  are  men  and  belong 
to  our  household  of  faith.     "  As  we  have 

[  177  ] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

therefore  opportunity,  let  us  do  good  unto 
all  men,  especially  unto  them  who  are  of  the 
household  of  faith."  "  All  men,"  because 
they  are  men,  children  of  a  common  Father, 
touched  by  the  same  Spirit,  and  redeemed  by 
the  same  Saviour,  but  "  especially  those  of 
our  household  of  faith."  When  I  went 
home  one  summer  I  found  my  father  about 
to  enter  the  courts  of  law  with  some  of  his 
neighbors.  What  was  the  difficulty?  His 
only  sister,  whose  inefficient  husband  had 
carelessly  given  notes  to  unscrupulous  men, 
was  about  to  be  driven  out  of  her  home.  I 
urged  him  not  to  go  to  law  with  his  neigh- 
bors at  that  time  of  his  life.  Looking  me  in 
the  eyes,  with  trembling  lip  and  deep  feeling, 
he  said,  "  My  boy,  do  you  think  I  am  going 
to  see  my  only  sister  driven  out  of  her 
home  ?  "  Her  blood  was  in  his  veins.  Com- 
mon ties  and  interest  bound  them  together, 
so  he  would  defend  her,  and  he  did.  Breth- 
ren, can  we  be  oblivious  to  the  ties  that  bind 
these  men  to  us,  and  to  God  ?  ''  Our  house- 
hold of  faith." 

We  must  respond  to  these  appeals,  thirdly, 
because  it  will  give  a  new  meaning  to  the 
promises  of  God.  John  Wesley  had  a  stu- 
dent who  felt  called  to  the  ministry.  He 
also  had  a  growing  family  to  support. 
After  a  severe  struggle  it  seemed  impossible 

[178] 


The  Aged  and  Infirm  Minister 

for  him  to  go  on,  so  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Wesley, 
intimating  that  he  would  have  to  give  it  up. 
Wesley  wrote  a  letter  calculated  to  encour- 
age him.  He  closed  the  letter  with  the 
Psalmist's  words :  "  Trust  in  the  Lord  and 
do  good,  so  shalt  thou  dwell  in  the  land,  and 
verily  thou  shalt  be  fed."  Then  he  took 
three  or  four  five-pound  Bank  of  England 
notes,  enclosing  them  with  the  letter  and  the 
promise.  In  a  few  days  a  reply  came  from 
the  man  in  these  words :  "  My  dear  Mr. 
Wesley,  Your  letter  heartens  me  greatly. 
Also  the  notes  on  the  promise.  I  had  con- 
sulted all  the  commentaries  on  that  promise, 
but  found  no  notes  so  helpful  as  the  ones  you 
sent."  Shall  we  not  give  these  brethren 
some  helpful  notes  on  the  promises  ?  It  will 
help  them  to  a  new  interpretation  of  the 
word. 

Well,  we  must  do  this,  in  the  fourth  and 
last  place,  because  of  the  claim  that  weak- 
ness has  on  strength.  "  We,  then,  that  are 
strong  ought  to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the 
weak,  and  not  to  please  ourselves,  for  even 
Christ  pleased  not  himself."  Booker  Wash- 
ington in  his  book,  "  Up  From  Slavery," 
expresses  great  admiration  for  his  old 
teacher.  General  Armstrong  of  Hampton  In- 
stitute, Virginia.  Armstrong's  magic  hand 
was  laid  upon  him  in  the  critical  period  of 

[179] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

his  life,  shaping  his  character  and  destiny. 
He  recognized  it  and  ceased  not  to  be  grate- 
ful for  it.  When  a  man  was  wanted  to 
organize  and  carry  on  a  work  at  Tuskegee, 
Armstrong  suggested  Booker  Washington. 
In  his  last  days,  when  broken  in  health,  the 
general  went  to  Alabama  to  look  over 
Booker's  work.  After  he  had  rested  from 
the  fatigue  of  the  journey  he  was  taken  in 
an  invalid's  chair  by  Booker's  own  hands  to 
a  point  where  he  could  look  over  the  whole 
plant.  The  great  black  leader  and  educator 
declares  that  to  have  been  the  proudest  mo- 
ment of  all  his  life.  The  recognition  of  the 
claim  which  weakness  has  on  strength !  Enter 
a  street-car,  and  you  are  allowed  to  stand  for 
miles.  No  one  thinks  of  offering  you  a  seat. 
Let  a  woman  with  a  babe  in  arms  enter,  and 
a  score  are  ready  to  give  their  place  to  her. 
So  some  one  has  said  a  woman  with  a  babe 
in  her  arms  can  travel  around  the  globe. 
Recognition  of  the  claim  which  weakness 
has  on  strength!  Can  we  refuse  to  recog- 
nize this  claim  on  us?  To  come  a  little 
nearer,  let  me  remind  you  that  the  inevitable 
hour  of  which  I  have  spoken  will  come  to 
some  of  you,  some  of  us.  If  not  to  us,  our 
wives  or  children.  Nothing  is  more  pathetic 
than  to  see  what  becomes  of  some  of  our 
wives  when  we  are  gone.    A  few  years  ago 

[i8o] 


The  Aged  and  Infirm  Minister 

I  went  into  the  Publication  Society  rooms  on 
a  Monday  morning.  A  sweet-faced  woman 
in  black  was  examining  the  books,  but  she 
seemed  to  know  no  one,  and  no  one  seemed 
to  know  her.  After  the  conference  hour  she 
was  still  there,  and  I  learned  from  the  super- 
intendent who  she  was — the  widow  of  one 
of  the  most  eminent  men  in  our  denomina- 
tion. He  had  been  kind  to  me  in  my  early 
ministry,  so  I  determined  to  speak  to  her. 
Not  another  minister  had  recognized  or 
spoken  to  her  that  day.  She  wondered  if 
it  were  possible  to  drop  out  and  be  so  soon 
forgotten.  A  dear  friend  of  her  husband's 
in  another  denomination,  had  made  a  place 
where  she  was  tenderly  cared  for.  A  man, 
once  pastor  in  this  city,  whom  I  had  known 
in  student  days,  wondered  if  the  work 
our  society  undertakes  was  worth  doing; 
laughed  at  me  for  wasting  time  in  service  on 
the  board.  All  his  ministerial  life  he  had 
been  on  a  good  salary,  how  could  any  man 
be  in  want?  Suddenly  he  went  out  of  life. 
Inside  of  a  year  a  letter  from  his  widow,  a 
proud,  high-spirited  woman,  comes  into  my 
hands,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Applications,  appealing  for  help.  And  we 
are  giving  it — giving,  as  in  nearly  all  cases 
we  do,  in  a  quiet,  delicate  way  to  piece  out 
what  they  may  have  in  their  home  with  chil- 

[i8i] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

dren  or  friends.  Brethren,  if  such  an  hour 
shall  come  to  you  or  your  widow,  what 
ought  to  be  the  attitude  of  our  society  to- 
ward you?  What  is  your  attitude  toward 
the  society  now  ? 


[182] 


xn 

OUR  NEW  YORK  STATE 
MISSIONARY  CONVENTION 


N 


OUR  NEW  YORK  STATE 
MISSIONARY  CONVENTION 


Under  this  head  I  want  to  consider: 
I.  "The  Convention";  2.  "Its  Work"; 
3.  "  Its  Needs  " ;  4.  "  Why  It  Ought  to  Be 
Sustained." 

1.  Concerning  the  Convention,  let  me  say- 
that  the  Convention  is  our  State  organiza- 
tion for  the  promotion  of  missionary  work. 
I  like  to  emphasize  this  in  a  sentence  or  two 
because  it  is  not  clear  to  the  minds  of  some 
of  our  people  just  what  we  stand  for.  In- 
deed, I  am  sometimes  introduced  on  public 
platforms  in  such  a  way  as  to  reveal  the 
fact  that  the  man  introducing  me  does  not 
know  what  I  am  there  to  represent.  I  can 
put  it  in  a  single  sentence,  so  it  can  be  car- 
ried away  and  recalled.  It  is  the  great 
family  of  Baptist  churches,  joining  hands 
for  service  within  the  limits  of  the  Empire 
State.     So  much  for  the  organization. 

2.  Concerning  the  Work. 

(i)  The  Convention  aims  to  promote  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel,  the  establishment 
and  maintenance  of  Baptist  churches.    Why 

[185] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

Baptist?  Because  Baptist  churches  more 
nearly  realize  our  ideal  of  what  constitutes  a 
New  Testament  church  than  any  other.  The 
celebrated  Archbishop  Whately  of  the  En- 
glish Church  once  declared  that  if  our  re- 
ligion is  not  true,  not  in  harmony  with  the 
plainest  teaching  of  the  New  Testament, 
then  we  ought  to  change  it  and  make  it  true, 
but  if  it  be  true,  then  we  are  bound  to  propa- 
gate and  perpetuate  it.  So  I  say  if  the 
things  which  our  fathers  and  mothers  be- 
lieved, and  for  which  some  of  them  suffered, 
were  not  true,  we  ought  to  change  them  and 
make  them  true,  but  if  they  were  true  then 
we  are  bound  to  propagate  and  perpetuate 
them,  and  we  are  disloyal  to  their  memories, 
and  utterly  unworthy  of  the  great  inheri- 
tance into  which  we  have  come  by  virtue  of 
our  relation  to  them,  unless  we  do  it. 

Our  aim  then  is  to  promote  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel,  the  establishment  and  main- 
tenance of  Baptist  churches,  always  I  trust 
in  the  spirit  of  the  Master,  and  yet  without 
any  apology. 

The  last  time  Dean  Stanley  was  on  this 
side  of  the  water  he  received  the  Baptist 
ministers  of  New  York  and  vicinity,  on  a 
certain  Monday  morning,  at  the  residence  of 
Cyrus  W.  Field,  where  he  was  a  guest. 
Doctor  Armitage,  who  was  then  the  Nestor 

[i86] 


New  York  State  Missionary  Convention 

of  our  ministers,  made  an  address  in  which 
he  thanked  the  eminent  man  for  some  kind 
words  he  had  said  about  Baptists,  and  what 
they  had  stood  for  through  the  centuries. 
Dean  Stanley  began  to  reply  by  saying, 
"  Brethren,  any  denomination  that  has  given 
to  the  world  such  poets  as  Milton,  such 
dreamers  as  Bunyan,  such  preachers  as 
Robert  Hall,  and  such  soldiers  as  Sir  Henry 
Havelock,  has  no  reason  to  apologize  for  its 
existence."  So  in  view  of  our  splendid  his- 
tory and  achievement  in  this  and  other 
lands,  I  insist  that  we  have  no  reason  to 
apologize  for  our  existence.  Allow  me, 
therefore,  to  repeat  that  in  our  State  mis- 
sionary work,  we  aim,  without  making  any 
apology,  first  of  all  to  promote  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel  and  the  fostering  of  Baptist 
churches. 

(2)  We  aim  to  encourage  our  common 
educational  interests.  No  great  denomina- 
tion can  be  far-reaching  and  permanently  suc- 
cessful in  the  world,  except  it  give  itself  to, 
at  least  make  wise  provision  for,  the  educa- 
tion of  its  own  people.  Martin  B.  Anderson 
appealing  for  a  more  liberal  endowment  for 
the  University  of  Rochester,  an  institution 
to  which  he  had  given  the  larger  part  of  a 
remarkable  life,  declared  that  Harvard  Col- 
lege was  the  top,  bottom,  and  side  of  Unitar- 

[187] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

ianism  in  New  England.  His  contention 
was  that  in  just  so  far  as  Unitarianism  was 
inculcating  its  views  in  the  life  of  the  New 
England  people,  it  was  doing  it  through 
Harvard  College  rather  than  through  its 
pulpits.  At  the  installation  of  Henry  W. 
Bellows  as  pastor  of  All  Souls  Church, 
New  York,  in  1838,  William  EUery  Chan- 
ning  was  present  and  ventured  the  prophecy 
that  in  fifty  years  Unitarianism  would  be 
the  ruling  faith  of  New  York.  Fifty,  yes, 
eighty  years  have  gone,  and  you  can  count 
the  places  of  Unitarian  worship  in  New 
York  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand  and  not 
exhaust  them.  His  prophecy  has  not  been 
fulfilled  then  in  New  York?  No,  nor  any- 
where else,  outside  the  immediate  influence 
of  Harvard  College. 

Now  what  I  want  to  urge  is  that  we  Bap- 
tists ought  all  the  while  to  use  our  educa- 
tional institutions  for  the  propagation  of  our 
denominational  life,  not  rely  upon  them  as 
Unitarianism  has  done.  It  goes  without 
saying  that  the  kind  of  an  education  we 
stand  for  in  all  our  institutions  is  an  all- 
round  Christian  education,  because  the  more 
you  educate,  unless  it  be  in  every  part  of  the 
nature,  the  more  perilous  young  men  and 
women  may  become  to  the  highest  and  best 
interests  of  the  people  in  the  communities  in 

[188] 


New  York  State  Missionary  Convention 

which  they  live.  Some  of  the  brightest  men 
in  this  great  State  are  behind  prison  walls, 
and  there  are  others  who  ought  to  be  there 
because  utterly  devoid  of  moral  sense, 
trained  mentally,  socially,  and  politically,  but 
not  morally  or  religiously.  The  really  dan- 
gerous man  then  is  not  always  the  ignorant 
man  but  the  educated  rascal.  Captain  Ober- 
lin  M.  Carter  was  graduated  at  West  Point 
thirty  years  ago  at  the  head  of  his  class.  In- 
deed, if  I  am  rightly  informed,  he  holds  the 
record  for  scholarship  of  all  the  young  men 
graduated  from  that  remarkable  school,  and 
yet  in  fifteen  years  from  the  time  he  was 
graduated  he  was  in  a  military  penitentiary 
in  the  West  for  robbing  the  Government 
that  had  educated  him  of  more  than  five  mil- 
lion dollars,  because  his  education  had  failed 
to  touch  the  moral  side  of  his  nature.  More 
perilous,  because  only  partially  educated. 
So  I  say  we  stand  for  an  all-round  Christian 
education,  and  for  more  than  a  hundred 
years  it  has  been  a  part  of  our  duty  to  foster 
these  institutions. 

(3)  ^^^  <^^^^^  ^^-^^  ^^  encourage  our  de- 
nominational Sunday  School  zvork.  The 
motto  of  the  New  York  State  Sunday 
School  Association,  an  interdenominational 
organization,  is  this,  "  The  word  of  God  by 
the  hand  of  the  living  teacher,  for  every  man, 

[  189  ] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

woman,  and  child  in  our  State."  That  is  on 
all  their  stationery  and  on  all  their  programs, 
and  yet  in  spite  of  their  influence  and  the 
influence  of  all  our  evangelical  churches,  we 
have  in  this  great  State  a  million  boys  and 
girls  of  school  age  not  in  any  Sunday 
School,  or  under  any  positive  religious  in- 
fluence anywhere.  One-tenth  of  the  whole 
population,  an  appalling  fact!  But,  some 
one  intimates,  they  are  in  down-town  New 
York,  in  Albany,  Troy,  Utica,  Syracuse, 
Rochester,  and  Buffalo,  where  the  foreign 
elements  are  segregated.  Just  as  large  a 
part  of  them  in  proportion  to  the  population 
are  to  be  found  in  smaller  cities,  villages,  and 
even  in  the  countryside,  as  among  what  Mr. 
Beecher  used  to  call  the  million-hearted  com- 
mon people  in  our  great  cities.  I  have  been 
half  of  my  life  in  such  places,  and  I  know 
what  it  is  to  make  a  careful  canvass  of  a 
whole  township.  If  you  will  do  this  any- 
where, in  city,  town,  or  country,  you  will  be 
amazed  to  find  how  many  boys  and  girls 
there  are  of  school  age  all  about  you,  not  in 
any  Sunday  School. 

If  this  be  true,  then  the  ultimate  hope  for 
reaching  and  saving  them  is  not  alone  in 
their  environment.  We  have  been  empha- 
sizing in  our  day,  as  never  before,  the  im- 
portance of  a  pure  and  healthful  environ- 

[190] 


New  York  State  Missionary  Convention 

ment  in  which  our  children  can  come  to 
manhood  and  womanhood,  and  we  cannot 
make  too  much  of  that,  and  yet  all  the  while 
we  realize  that  while  their  surroundings  may 
!'be  salutary,  they  are  not  necessarily  saving. 
We  shall  save  them  only  as  we  bring  them 
into  a  right  relation  in  their  own  spirits 
toward  God  as  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  Ed- 
ward Judson  is  reputed  to  have  said  con- 
cerning Hamilton,  the  seat  of  Colgate  Uni- 
versity, that  there  was  more  of  character, 
piety,  and  culture  there  to  a  square  foot 
than  any  place  with  which  he  was  familiar ; 
whereat  Dean  Burnham,  of  the  Seminary, 
contended  that  he  could  parallel  every  crime 
in  the  catalog  in  that  same  beautiful  town, 
and  probably  both  were  right.  Chief  Justice 
Chase  was  once  on  his  way  from  Washing- 
ton to  his  Western  home,  when  he  had  occa- 
sion to  step  off  the  train  onto  the  station 
platform  of  a  West  Virginia  town,  where 
the  last  rays  of  a  summer  sun  were  falling 
over  the  mountaintops  and  flooding  the  place 
with  glory  and  beauty.  "  What  a  place  to 
be  born  in !  Patrick  Henry  was  born  here. 
No  wonder  he  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
men  of  the  Colonial  period,"  was  his  excla- 
mation. "  Yes,"  replied  a  hanger-on  at  the 
station,  who  heard  the  remark,  "  dem  moun- 
tains and  dat  sunshine  been  here  from  time 

[191] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

immemorial,  and  there  has  never  been  but 
one  Patrick  Henry  born  here." 

What  did  he  mean  ?  What  I  am  just  now 
insisting  upon,  that  the  determining  factor 
in  character  and  destiny  for  every  child 
born  into  this  world  is  not  alone  in  the  air 
they  breathe,  the  sunshine  that  warms  them, 
the  song  of  the  birds,  or  the  perfume  of  the 
flowers.  Not  in  anything  without  them,  but 
within  them,  a  right  attitude  toward  God  in 
their  own  spirits.  Now,  if  there  is  any  rea- 
son why  we  should  have  Baptist  churches  in 
this  State,  there  are  just  as  many  reasons 
why  we  should  have  Baptist  Sunday 
Schools,  and  logically,  in  the  long  run,  we 
shall  get  one  only  as  we  foster  the  other. 
Incidentally  we  do  other  things,  like  the  set- 
tlement of  difficulties  in  churches,  the  bring- 
ing of  churchless  pastors  and  pastorless 
churches  together,  and  the  divine  approval 
is  on  all  that  kind  of  effort,  but  primarily,  all 
the  while,  we  stand  for  the  things  I  have  in- 
dicated, the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  the 
planting  and  fostering  of  Baptist  churches, 
and  the  encouragement  of  our  educational 
interests  and  our  denominational  Sunday 
School  work. 

3.  Concerning  the  Needs.  Let  me  give 
some  facts  that  indicate  the  need  and  possi- 
bility of  mission  work  in  this  State, 

[192] 


Neiv  York  State  Missionary  Convention 

( I )  More  than  ten  millions  of  people  are 
in  this  territory.  In  1783,  at  the  close  of  the 
Revolutionary  war,  there  were  less  than  two 
hundred  thousand  people,  nearly  all  in  the 
valleys  of  the  Hudson,  the  Mohawk,  and  the 
Susquehanna  rivers.  But  in  19 18  there  were 
more  than  ten  million,  and  they  were  coming 
from  lands  beyond  the  sea,  up  to  the  time  of 
the  declaration  of  the  world  war,  at  the  rate 
of  a  million  and  a  quarter  every  year 
through  New  York  harbor  alone,  thirty- 
three  and  a  third  per  cent  remaining  on  the 
soil  of  this  State.  Now  what  part  of  the 
whole  population  is  in  the  membership  of 
our  Baptist  churches?  One  in  fifty-five. 
You  wonder  why  we  have  so  few?  One 
reason  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  just  men- 
tioned, the  large  number  coming  from  other 
lands  through  the  years,  whose  only  concep- 
tion of  religious  truth  and  religious  life  has 
been  gained  in  the  State  churches  of  the  Old 
World.  Lest  this  statement  be  resented,  let 
me  say  that  I  came  that  way  myself.  I  am 
one  of  those  immigrants.  For  fifty-six  days 
and  nights  with  my  parents  I  was  tossed  on 
old  ocean's  wave  between  the  harbors  of 
Liverpool  and  Quebec,  in  an  old  sailing  ves- 
sel that  carried  lumber  from  the  Canadian 
forests  one  way  and  brought  back  immi- 
grants, ten  dollars  a  head  and  children  half- 

[  193  ] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

price,  the  other.  So  the  first  time  I  crossed 
the  Atlantic  I  had  three  thousand  miles  of 
bed  and  board  and  travel  for  a  five-dollar 
bill.  When  I  had  told  this  story  in  a  New 
York  pulpit  a  Columbia  College  professor 
suggested  the  reading  of  Professor  Steiner's 
book,  "  The  Trail  of  the  Immigrant  " — 
where  he  goes  after  landing  here.  I  rather 
resented  the  suggestion,  for  I  had  read 
nearly  all  Steiner  had  put  into  print.  In  any 
case  I  did  not  need  to  read  it,  for  out  of  ex- 
perience I  knew  the  way;  these  feet  had 
trodden  the  "  trail." 

(2)  There  are  nearly  a  hundred  villages 
of  from  one  to  iive  thousand  people  in  the 
State  without  a  Baptist  church,  where  your 
children  or  mine  could  not  find  a  place  in 
which  God  could  be  worshiped  after  the 
faith  of  their  fathers.  Of  course  I  do  not 
advocate  the  putting  of  a  Baptist  church  in 
every  one  of  these  towns,  for  some  of  them 
are  overchurched  now.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
I  do  not  favor  the  organization  of  a  Baptist 
church  anywhere  merely  for  the  sake  of 
saying  we  have  a  church  there,  but  only  as 
it  meets  a  real  religious  need.  Doubtless  in 
some  of  these  towns  there  are  people  of  our 
faith  who  ought  to  be  inspired  to  erect  a 
church  and  do  our  part  in  bringing  the  king- 
dom of  God  to  the  whole  people. 

[194] 


New  York  State  Missionary  Convention 

(3)  There  are  four  hundred  Baptist 
churches  with  less  than  a  hundred  members. 
Many  of  these,  I  am  glad  to  state,  are 
"  serving  their  generation  by  the  will  of 
God  "  in  a  splendid  way.  But  there  are  two 
hundred  churches,  more  or  less  dependent, 
missionary  churches  that  cannot,  or  think 
they  cannot,  keep  their  doors  open  without 
some  outside  financial  help.  What  are  the 
reasons  for  their  dependent  condition? 
Under  the  heading  of  "  Causes  of  Weakness 
and  Inefficiency  "  I  have  considered  this  in 
another  chapter,  and  therefore  indicate  only 
one  or  two  reasons  here.  Some  of  them 
have  been  the  victims  of  unwise  and  unprin- 
cipled men  in  the  ministry  as  pastors,  for 
we  have  men  in  our  ministry,  and  I  am  in- 
formed the  same  is  true  of  other  denomi- 
nations, who  can  be  relied  upon  to  wreck  a 
church  in  six  months,  if  they  can  get  into 
its  pulpit.  We  protect  the  churches  from 
these  men  just  in  so  far  as  the  churches 
themselves  will  permit  us  to  do  it. 

Then  other  churches  are  the  victims  of 
their  own  financial  meanness,  they  will  not 
let  loose  enough  cash  to  insure  success.  But 
these  causes  operate  in  the  larger  churches 
as  well  as  in  the  smaller.  Strong  churches 
have  been  victimized  by  unwise  and  un- 
principled men  as  pastors,  and  some  of  the 

[195] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

same  class  utterly  fail  to  fulfil  their  God- 
given  mission  to  the  community  and  the 
world  for  financial  reasons.  Human  nature 
in  a  little  church  averages  up  with  human 
nature  in  a  large  church.  Doctor  Burling- 
ham  once  said  in  my  pulpit  that  human  na- 
ture was  a  thing  *'  quite  prevalent,"  a  good 
deal  of  it  lying  round  in  the  pews  of  a 
Baptist  church,  and  in  proportion  to  the 
membership  it  is  about  the  same  in  all 
churches,  large  and  small. 

When  all  allowances  have  been  made  for 
the  frailties  of  human  nature  that  can  be 
made,  here  is  the  fact — we  have  two  hun- 
dred dependent  Baptist  churches  in  this 
State.  Now  what  shall  be  done  with  them  ? 
A  prominent  man  where  I  had  spoken  on 
this  phase  of  our  work  wanted  to  give  ad- 
vice, and  that  is  about  all  some  men  give 
us.  It  is  amazing  how  much  advice  you  can 
get  on  almost  any  subject,  "  without  money 
and  without  price."  He  suggested  that  we 
"  wring  the  necks  of  a  score  of  these  little 
churches,  and  put  them  out  of  business." 
Radical  and  realistic  treatment!  Without 
arguing  the  question,  allow  me  to  say  that 
nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  spirit  of 
the  Nazarene  than  indiscriminately  to  close 
up  any  considerable  number  of  our  little 
churches,  and  later  on  I'll  tell  you  why. 

[  196  ] 


New  York  State  Missionary  Convention 

''  Combine  them,  two  or  three  under  one 
man,  and  let  him  serve  them  as  best  he  can," 
is  the  suggestion  of  another.  Exactly  what 
we  are  doing.  More  than  two  hundred  sta- 
tions were  served  that  way  by  missionary 
pastors  and  evangelists  in  a  recent  year,  and 
the  measure  of  the  divine  approval  on  the 
work  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  nearly  two 
thousand  souls  were  added  to  our  churches 
as  the  result. 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  nearly  eight 
hundred  of  our  nine  hundred  and  eighty-five 
churches  in  the  State  have  at  some  time  been 
ministered  to  in  that  way.  Such  churches  as 
the  First,  Binghamton ;  First,  Elmira ;  First, 
Syracuse,  Rochester,  and  Batavia,  are 
among  them.  It  ought  to  be  clearly  under- 
stood that  wherever  aid  is  granted  a  church, 
it  is  with  the  understanding  that  it  is  to  be 
temporary,  to  tide  them  over  a  crisis.  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt  pithily  said :  "If  a  man 
stumbles  you  can  steady  him,  if  he  falls  you 
can  help  him  back  to  his  feet;  but  if  he  lies 
down  and  refuses  to  get  up,  you  cannot  pick 
him  up  and  permanently  carry  him."  That 
is  true  of  an  individual,  and  it  is  equally  true 
of  a  church.  The  greatest  gift  to  any  church 
is  a  man  in  its  pulpit  with  the  genius  of 
leadership,  one  who  can  keep  the  people  to- 
gether with  their  faces  toward  God,  which 

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Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

means  victory  always.  This  is  the  type  of 
men  we  are  all  the  while  on  the  lookout  for, 
and  we  have  a  right  to  expect  that  our  semi- 
naries will  be  giving  us  an  increasing  num- 
ber of  them. 

4.  Reasons  why  the  Convention  Should 
be  Sustained. 

( 1 )  Because  these  churches  are  so  largely 
our  sources  of  supply.  Ministers,  missiona- 
ries, musicians,  artists,  lawyers,  doctors,  edi- 
tors, teachers,  and  engineers,  men  and  wo- 
men prominent  in  all  the  honorable  callings 
of  life  get  their  earliest  inspirations  in  these 
churches.  In  the  chapters  on  "  The  Coun- 
try Church "  and  ''  The  Country  Boy " 
many  concrete  illustrations  are  given.  Not 
only  for  what  they  have  been,  then,  but  be- 
cause of  what  they  now  mean  to  their  com- 
munities, and  to  the  coming  generation, 
they  must  be  fostered,  kept  alive  and  effi- 
cient. 

(2)  Because  they  belong  to  our  '^house- 
hold of  faith.''  "  As  we  have  therefore  op- 
portunity, let  us  do  good  unto  all  men,  es- 
pecially those  who  are  of  the  household  of 
faith,"  is  the  injunction  of  Scripture.  I 
have  a  duty  toward  all  men,  but  I  am  in- 
debted to  some  men  as  I  am  not  to  all  men. 
I  love  and  am  sympathetic  toward  all 
churches,  but  I  have  an  obligation  to  one 

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New  York  State  Missionary  Convention 

church  as  to  no  other,  and  that  one  is  mine. 
These  dependent  churches  belong  to  our 
Baptist  household  of  faith,  and  there  is 
something  wrong  with  our  religion,  if  we 
are  not  responsive  to  an  appeal  in  their  be- 
half. In  our  family  life  I  observe  that  all 
the  members  are  tender  toward  the  weaker 
ones.    It  ought  to  be  the  same  here. 

(3)  Because  of  the  claim  that  weakness 
always  has  on  strength.  "  We  then  that 
are  strong  ought  to  bear  the  infirmities  of 
the  weak,  and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ." 
When  the  Titanic  went  down  amid  the  ice- 
bergs of  the  North  Atlantic,  and  the  presi- 
dent of  the  White  Star  Line  was  among  the 
first  reported  saved,  while  women  and  chil- 
dren perished  by  hundreds,  we  began  to 
wonder  whether  he  had  "  played  the  man  " 
in  saving  himself  and  letting  helpless  women 
and  children  drown.  I  pass  no  judgment 
upon  him,  but  I  found  the  feeling  against 
him  much  stronger  in  England  than  here, 
and  the  lurking  suspicion  that  in  that  awful 
hour  he  had  not  recognized  the  claim  that 
weakness  has  on  strength  has  driven  him  out 
of  official  position.  Shall  we  recognize  that 
claim  as  we  think  of  these  dependent 
churches  ? 

(4)  As  a  matter  of  State  policy  we  must 
Americanize  and  Christianise  these  aliens 

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Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

among  us.  When  Carey  came  back  from 
India  he  appealed  to  England  saying,  *'  Un- 
less England  Christianizes  India,  India  will 
heathenize  England."  So  if  we  do  not 
Christianize  these  strangers  within  our 
gates,  they  will  heathenize  us.  Failing  to  do 
what  we  ought  to  do  for  them,  what  God 
expects  us  to  do,  with  their  rapid  rate  of  in- 
crease, the  time  is  coming  when  they  will  so 
far  outnumber  us  that  the  question  will  no 
longer  be  what  we  will  do  with  them,  but 
what  they  will  do  with  us.  I  am  no  pessim- 
ist. When  confronted  with  two  or  three 
evils,  the  pessimist  takes  all  of  them.  He 
blows  out  the  candle,  then  complains  of  the 
dark.  Though  not  pessimistic,  I  am  con- 
strained to  say  that  in  our  dealing  with  these 
people,  we  are  confronted  with  a  problem, 
the  like  of  which  has  confronted  no  genera- 
tion in  the  past. 

What  the  church,  the  nation,  and  what 
civilization  is  yet  to  be  in  this  land  is  going 
to  be  determined  by  how  we  meet  this  crisis. 
A  delicate  and  difficult  task?  Yes,  so  deli- 
cate and  difficult  that  we  shall  succeed  in  any 
degree,  only  as  we  live  and  work  in  an  at- 
mosphere vitalized  by  the  spirit  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Thirty  years  ago,  I  went  back  to 
the  little  town  in  England,  where  I  was  born, 
and  out  of  which  my  parents  had  taken  me 

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New  York  State  Missionary  Convention 

many  years  before.  At  the  close  of  the  ser- 
vice in  the  church  where  they  were  once 
members,  a  sweet-faced  woman  announced 
herself  as  my  mother's  girl  friend.  She 
had  been  with  my  mother  when  she  was  bap- 
tized into  that  church,  when  she  was  married 
to  my  father,  and  when  I  was  born  into  the 
world.  Can  you  imagine  how  the  deepest 
emotions  of  my  heart  were  stirred  as  I 
looked  into  the  face  of  that  woman  ?  "  Give 
your  mother  my  love,  and  give  her  this,"  she 
said,  as  she  handed  me  a  bulb,  carefully 
wrapped  and  tied,  with  the  direction  to  put 
it  in  rich  soil  and  keep  it  in  the  sun.  When 
I  landed  in  New  York  I  mailed  the  bulb  to 
my  mother  in  the  old  home  with  the  direc- 
tions of  her  girlhood  friend,  and  when  I 
went  over  the  great  snowdrifts  the  next 
March,  to  attend  a  funeral  in  that  town,  the 
south  window  in  my  mother's  home  was  a 
mass  of  beautiful  flowers.  She  had  put  the 
bulb  in  rich  soil  and  kept  it  in  the  sun.  So 
you  and  I  will  blossom,  come  to  the  best  that 
is  in  us,  and  do  our  work,  delicate  and  diffi- 
cult though  it  may  be,  only  as  we  live  and 
work  in  the  sun,  in  an  atmosphere  vitalized 
by  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ. 


[201  ] 


xin 

THE  STRANGER  WITHIN  OUR 
GATES 


THE  STRANGER  WITHIN  OUR 
GATES 


In  this  chapter  I  want  to  speak  of  the  alien 
peoples,  those  who  are  spoken  of  in  the  Old 
Testament  as  "  the  stranger  within  thy 
gates."  It  will  be  a  matter  of  surprise  to 
some  of  our  readers  to  know  how  numerous 
they  are,  to  know  that  since  1820,  when  the 
period  of  modern  immigration  began,  be- 
tween twenty-six  and  twenty-seven  mil- 
lions have  come  to  us  from  lands  beyond 
the  sea.  More  than  sixteen  millions  of 
them  are  now  alive,  and  from  thirty-five 
to  forty-five  millions,  nearly  one-half  the 
population  of  the  Republic,  are  either  for- 
eign-born, or  the  children  of  foreign-born. 
When  I  was  a  little  boy  in  a  northern  New 
York  public  school  I  was  the  only  English- 
born  boy  there.  When  any  of  the  pupils 
wanted  in  any  way  to  humiliate  me,  he 
would  sneer  at  me  and  speak  of  me  as  "  that 
Englishman,"  without  ever  mentioning  my 
name.  All  knew  who  was  meant.  No  sane 
child  would  attempt  to  humiliate  another  in 
that  way  today,  for  every  other  man,  wo- 

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Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

man,  or  child  met  with  in  all  the  walks  of 
life  is  either  foreign-born  or  a  child  of  for- 
eign-born. The  great  mass  of  these  foreign- 
ers are  here  for  the  same  reason  that  my  fa- 
ther and  mother  came — to  better  their  ma- 
terial condition.  The  mass  of  them  are 
therefore  utterly  out  of  harmony  with  the 
genius  and  spirit  of  our  free  institutions, 
civil  and  religious. 

We  have  in  them  our  peril,  our  opportu- 
nity, and  our  responsibility. 

They  Are  Our  Peril.  Statesmen  of  the 
Old  World  for  fifty  years  have  been  asking 
how  long  the  Republic  could  endure  with 
that  vast  mass  of  unassimilated  material 
cast  in  upon  our  shores  every  year,  for  they 
were  coming  at  the  rate  of  three  people  in 
every  minute  of  time,  day  and  night,  year  in 
and  out.  In  our  better  moments  we  have 
been  asking  the  same  question  ourselves,  and 
we  cannot  ask  it  too  thoughtfully  or  prayer- 
fully. But  what  shall  be  done  with  them? 
Only  one  answer  can  be  given.  We  must  do 
what  we  have  been  trying  to  do  with  them  in 
the  past,  absorb  them,  and  make  them  a  part 
of  us.  If  you  ask  if  that  can  be  done  and 
how  ?  I  reply.  By  what  some  one  has  spoken 
of  as  the  ''  miracle  of  assimilation,"  and  the 
''  image  and  superscription  "  borne  by  the 
output  will  depend  upon  the  dominating  fac- 

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The  Stranger  Within  Our  Gates 

tor  in  the  process.  If  we  make  that  factor 
preeminently  Christian,  tliere  need  be  no 
anxiety  as  to  the  outcome,  but  if  we  allow  it 
to  be  anything  else,  then  the  future  will  be 
uncertain  for  us.  For  myself,  I  am  opti- 
mistic, and  perhaps  that  is  because  I  am  one 
of  them. 

I  honestly  think  we  have  been  getting  in 
these  people  through  the  years,  at  least  in 
brawn  and  muscle,  about  what  we  have 
needed.  If  we  were  seeking  to  reinvigorate 
the  national  stock,  where  should  we  go? 
Not  to  London,  for  the  mass  of  the  people 
in  the  lowly  walks  of  English  life  are  sodden 
with  drink.  We  who  have  been  there  for  a 
summer  have  been  appalled  at  the  conditions. 
Nor  would  we  go  to  Glasgow  or  Edinburgh, 
for  a  charming  Scotch  gentleman  declared 
to  me  that  he  could  not  conceal  from  himself 
the  sad  fact  that  the  Scotch  race  is  weaken- 
ing in  the  fiber  from  strong  drink.  Beauti- 
ful Edinburgh,  where  he  has  spent  all  his 
life,  is  celebrated  for  two  things,  the  manu- 
facture of  theological  books  and  of  Scotch 
whiskey,  the  one  calculated  to  neutralize  the 
other.  Not  to  London  or  Edinburgh,  cer- 
tainly not  in  Paris,  should  we  go  to  reen- 
force  the  national  stock.  Where  then? 
Among  the  peasant  peoples  in  the  heart  of 
the  continent  of  Europe,  and  it  is  from  these 

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Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

countries  that  the  bulk  of  immigrants  have 
been  coming. 

I  am  optimistic  also  because  I  believe  in 
God,  believe  that  he  loves  them,  and  has  a 
purpose  in  their  coming  here.  More  than 
that,  I  believe  that  he  has  confidence  in  our 
American  Christianity,  and  that  we  will  do 
what  ought  to  be  done  for  them.  If  you  ask 
me  how  I  know  he  loves  them,  I  answer  as 
Mr.  Lincoln  did  when  he  had  made  the 
statement  that  God  loved  the  great  mass  of 
homely  common  people  of  whom  he  was  a 
part,  and  some  one  asked  him  how  he  knew 
God  loved  them.  "  He  would  not  have 
made  so  many  of  us  had  he  not  loved  us," 
was  his  reply.  So  I  say,  Did  not  our  God 
love  these  people  and  have  a  purpose  to  serve 
in  their  coming,  he  would  not  allow  so  many 
of  them  to  be  within  our  gates.  A  college 
professor  returning  from  a  tour  of  Europe 
became  interested  in  a  poor  woman  and 
her  children  coming  out  in  the  steerage 
to  join  her  husband  who  had  preceded 
her  and  made  a  home  for  them  in  the 
far  West.  As  they  neared  our  shores  she 
became  increasingly  anxious  lest  she  should 
miss  the  train  that  would  take  her  to  her 
loved  one.  He  reassured  her  by  telling  her 
he  had  often  been  that  way  and  would  see 
her  safely  on  her  train.     As  they  walked 

[208] 


The  Stranger  Within  Our  Gates 

from  the  dock  to  the  station,  in  order  that 
the  grip  he  carried  in  one  hand  might  not 
collide  with  the  child  she  was  leading,  he 
stepped  over  on  the  inside  of  the  walk,  con- 
scious that  it  was  hardly  the  thing  for  him 
to  do.  He  had  not  gone  a  block  when  a  little 
Yiddish  boy,  only  a  few  months  on  this  side 
of  the  sea,  railed  out  at  him  saying :  "  You 
greenhorn !  Don't  you  know  that  American 
gentlemen  don't  walk  on  the  insides  but  on 
the  outsides  the  ladies  ? "  Only  a  few 
months  within  our  gates,  and  yet  open  and 
responsive  to  the  spirit  of  deference  to  wo- 
manhood, found  here  as  nowhere  else  under 
the  sun!  And  if  open  to  that  spirit  then 
open  to  every  other.  If  we  are  the  ''  chosen 
and  elect "  among  all  the  nations  we  shall 
see  to  it  that  the  Christian  spirit  is  brought 
to  bear  upon  them.  Whether  the  Republic 
shall  endure  or  go  the  way  of  all  republics  in 
the  past  will  be  determined  by  our  attitude 
toward  and  our  spirit  in  dealing  with  these 
peoples. 

Just  before  the  war  Theodore  Roosevelt 
declared  that  the  great  question  after  all  be- 
fore the  nation  was  not  a  social,  political, 
or  material  question,  but  a  moral  and  re- 
ligious one,  our  dealing  with  the  stranger 
within  our  gates.  Steiner  closes  a  great 
chapter  in  one  of  his  books  with  the  state- 

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Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

ment  that  in  our  dealing  with  the  stranger 
we  are  weaving  either  a  wedding-garment  or 
a  winding-sheet  for  the  Republic. 

We  have  more  than  a  passing  interest  in 
this  problem  because  it  is  so  large  a  factor  in 
our  State  work.  While  we  have  been  think- 
ing of  home  missions  in  connection  with  the 
frontier  and  the  far  West,  New  York  State 
has  become  one  of  the  greatest  home  mis- 
sion fields  on  the  continent,  if  not  on  the 
globe.  Depopulate,  take  away  the  last  man, 
woman,  and  child  from  twenty-three  States 
and  Territories  in  the  West  today,  and  you 
can  repeople  them  from  the  Empire  State 
alone  tomorrow,  and  have  enough  people  left 
to  carry  on  business.  In  our  population  of 
more  than  ten  millions  we  have  between 
sixty  and  seventy  nationalities.  A  New 
York  newspaper  recently  stated  that  thirty 
men  employed  in  a  factory  on  the  East  Side 
were  born  and  grew  to  manhood  in  the  little 
town  of  Haran,  where  Terah  the  father  of 
Abram  died  when  on  the  way  to  the  Land 
of  Promise.  Representatives  of  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth  within  our  gates !  Just  as 
the  tides  of  old  ocean  force  their  way 
through  the  Narrows,  up  the  Hudson  into 
the  heart  of  this  great  State,  so  the  tides  of 
immigration  have  gone  all  over  this  terri- 
tory.    I  travel  thirty  thousand  miles  an- 

[210] 


The  Stranger  Within  Our  Gates 

nually  in  this  State,  but  I  do  not  go  so  far 
afield  anywhere  that  I  do  not  find  them. 
Neglected  and  left  to  themselves,  they  are  a 
menace  to  all  we  hold  dear. 

But  We  Have  in  Them  also  Our  Opportu- 
nity. The  Great  Commission  in  part  at  least 
can  be  carried  out  through  them.  The  word 
"  Go  "  may  now  be  translated  "  give,"  no 
longer  a  question  of  latitude  and  longitude, 
but  of  attitude  and  spirit.  Note  some  of  the 
advantageous  circumstances  under  which  we 
can  carry  out  the  Commission  to  all  the 
nations,  as  represented  by  these  strangers 
within  our  gates. 

I.  The  unity  and  freedom  of  our  institu- 
tions. One  of  the  olDStacles  to  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  gospel  in  Oriental  lands  has  been 
the  caste  spirit,  a  kind  of  insurmountable 
Chinese  Wall,  through  or  over  which  there 
can  be  no  communication.  Nothing  like  that 
in  our  land ;  nearly  fifty  principalities  under 
one  ruler,  speaking  practically  one  language, 
living  under  one  code  of  laws,  and  having 
easy  approach  one  to  another  by  great  lines 
of  intercommunication  and  travel;  a  free 
Church  in  a  free  State,  where  the  only  ques- 
tion asked  about  anybody  is  not  where  they 
were  born,  or  who  their  parents  were,  but 
what  they  are,  and  what  they  can  do.  At 
the  close  of  a  service  in  a  great  church  in 

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Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

New  York  where  I  had  spoken  I  had  an  in- 
vitation for  dinner  from  a  well-to-do  Pres- 
byterian lady,  living  in  a  brown-stone  front. 
The  invitation  v/as  gladly  accepted,  not  be- 
cause of  her  wealth  or  social  standing,  but 
because  when  I  was  a  barefoot  boy  going 
about  the  town  where  she  resided,  doing  er- 
rands to  make  my  contribution  toward  the 
family  life  as  all  of  us  in  that  immigrant 
home  needed  to  do,  she  never  allowed  me  to 
pass  her  door  without  a  kind  word  or  a 
smile,  and  when  I  canvassed  the  village  for 
books  to  meet  the  expense  of  my  second  year 
in  college,  she  said,  "  Yes,  I  will  buy  any- 
thing you  have  to  sell,  not  because  I  need 
it,  but  because  I  want  to  help  a  boy  who  is 
struggling  up."  Emerson  long  ago  declared 
that  America  was  only  another  name  for  op- 
portunity. Here  the  ^'  barefoot  boy  "  can 
come  up  from  the  lowliest  places  to  posi- 
tions of  responsibility  and  influence.  Where 
in  all  the  earth  is  there  another  land  with 
such  opportunity  and  such  possibilities? 
That  is  the  first  advantageous  circumstance 
for  the  carrying  out  of  the  Great  Commis- 
sion to  all  the  nations  represented  by  the 
stranger  within  our  gates. 

2.  On  our  own  soil  and  in  our  own  cli- 
mate, A  college  classmate  of  mine  went  out 
to  the  Orient  as  a  missionary,  and  in  a  few 

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The  Stranger  Within  Our  Gates 

months  was  stricken  with  fever.  Today  he 
lies  in  a  lonely  grave  at  the  foot  of  the 
Himalayas,  a  victim  to  the  climate.  After 
five  and  thirty  years  of  wanderings  in  Africa 
David  Livingstone  died  on  his  knees  in  his 
lonely  tent,  with  the  Dark  Continent  on  his 
heart,  because  his  quinine  had  given  out. 
Heathenism  is  dotted  all  over  with  the 
graves  of  our  heroic  missionary  dead,  the 
victims  of  the  savage,  the  climate,  and  the 
wild  beasts.  "  Their  graves  have  been  the 
stepping-stones  of  empire  "  the  world  over. 
The  time  has  now  come  when  we  can  be 
factors  in  the  great  missionary  enterprise 
without  leaving  our  own  land. 

3.  In  our  own  language.  One  reason  why 
the  progress  of  religious  truth  has  been  so 
slow  in  foreign  lands  is  the  fact  that  only  a 
small  part  of  any  seminary  class  has  a  genius 
for  the  mastery  of  a  foreign  tongue.  Some 
men  out  there  for  the  lifetime  of  a  genera- 
tion are  not  even  now  at  home  in  the  lan- 
guage. When  pastor  of  the  Madison  Square 
Presbyterian  church  Dr.  William  Adams 
prophesied  that  in  fifty  years  English  would 
be  the  universal  tongue,  and  his  prophecy 
seems  to  be  rapidly  fulfilling.  On  a  lecture 
tour  around  the  world  Joseph  Cook  was 
booked  to  speak  in  a  large  hall  in  Calcutta. 
When  the  hour  arrived  he  expressed  regret 

[213] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

that  he  could  not  speak  to  the  people  in  their 
own  tongue.  The  mayor  of  the  city  who 
was  presiding  assured  him  that  he  might  dis- 
miss his  interpreter  and  speak  in  English, 
for  there  were  not  a  score  present  who  would 
not  comprehend  him  as  fully  as  if  he  were 
speaking  in  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  and 
he  excused  the  interpreter  and  spoke  in 
English. 

You  can  go  round  the  globe  today,  in  the 
great  highways  of  travel,  speaking  English. 
A  careful  estimate  shows  that  more  than 
two  hundred  out  of  every  thousand  speak 
English,  while  only  thirty  or  forty  speak 
French  or  German.  When  Howard  B. 
Grose  wrote  his  illuminating  account  of  the 
Missionary  Conference  in  Edinburgh  in 
19 10  for  "  Missions,"  he  stated  that  of  all 
the  nations  represented  there  only  one  report 
was  made  through  an  interpreter,  all  the  rest 
reported  in  English.  English  is  fast  becom- 
ing the  universal  tongue!  Newell  Dwight 
Hillis  recently  asserted  that  the  time  was 
coming  when  one-fifth  of  the  human  race 
would  be  living  on  the  American  Continent, 
North  and  South  America,  all  speaking  En- 
glish. Now  if  for  social,  political,  educa- 
tional, and  business  reasons  all  these  peoples 
speak  English — and  it  is  amazing  how  soon 
most  of  them  do — why  not  take  advantage 

[214] 


The  Stranger  Within  Our  Gates 

of  that  fact  and  give  them  the  gospel  in  En- 
glish? In  localities  where  they  are  segre- 
gated, as  in  East  Utica,  with  one-fifth  of  the 
population  of  the  city  in  a  "  Little  Italy," 
we  must  give  the  gospel  at  least  to  the  first 
generation  in  Italian,  but  even  then  we  in- 
sist upon  services  in  English,  or  they  lose 
the  children  and  the  young  people.  I  have 
seen  a  letter  in  Martin  B.  Anderson's  own 
handwriting  in  which  he  declared  that  the 
German  department  in  Rochester  Theo- 
logical Seminary  would  be  only  a  temporary 
affair,  for  ultimately  all  our  work  would  be 
done  in  English.  After  speaking  on  this 
subject  at  the  Dutchess  Association  where 
Dr.  E.  W.  Clark,  forty-one  years  in  the 
Naga  Hills,  was  present,  I  was  surprised  and 
delighted  to  have  his  approval  of  the  posi- 
tion taken.  More  than  that,  he  was  confi- 
dent the  time  would  come  when  our  work  in 
foreign  lands  would  be  done  in  English,  cer- 
tainly wherever  the  English  flag  flies.  This 
would  make  it  possible  for  every  Christian 
man  and  woman  to  be  active  in  real  mission- 
ary work. 

4.  It  is  the  Scriptural  order,  "  beginning 
at  Jerusalem."  John  R.  Mott,  who  has  been 
several  times  around  the  globe  in  the  inter- 
ests of  missions,  coined  a  phrase,  and  has 
written  a  book  under  a  title  that  has  been 

P  [215] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

made  the  watchword  of  the  Laymen's  Move- 
ment, "  The  Evangelization  of  the  World  in 
this  Generation,"  insisted  in  the  Student 
Volunteer  convention  in  Rochester  that  it 
was  idle  to  think  of  such  a  thing,  unless  we 
begin  with  the  man  and  woman  nearest  to 
us.  Then  one-third  of  all  these  strangers 
some  time  go  back  to  the  homeland,  and  all ' 
life  there  is  being  revolutionized  by  Ameri- 
can methods.  A  friend  of  mine,  making  a% 
summer  tour  in  those  lands,  saw  the  first 
heating  apparatus  ever  installed  to  make  a 
house  comfortable  in  a  town  of  several  thou- 
sand, and  the  first  plate-glass  window  ever 
put  in  there  for  the  display  of  goods.  Both 
jobs  were  done  by  men  who  had  been  ten  or 
fifteen  years  in  the  United  States.  Now  I 
repeat,  make  that  American  spirit  preemi- 
nently Christian,  and  you  have  taken  a  long 
step  toward  evangelizing  the  communities 
where  they  go.  Just  here  I  should  like  to 
ask  what  kind  of  representation  we  are  hav- 
ing in  those  lands  by  men  and  women  who 
for  years  have  lived  here  in  our  own  neigh- 
borhoods? What  has  been  our  attitude  to- 
ward them  while  here  ?  It  is  a  serious  ques- 
tion, but  one  that,  some  time,  somewhere, 
will  have  to  be  met. 

John  Fiske  in  his  volume  on  "  The  Mak- 
ing of  New  England  "  has  a  great  chapter  on 

[216] 


The  Stranger  Within  Our  Gates 

."  Nation  Making."  In  the  welding  together 
of  primitive,  shifting  tribes  into  stable  and 
powerful  nations  he  thinks  we  can  discern 
three  widely  different  methods  that  have 
been  followed  at  different  times  and  places, 
with  widely  different  results.  The  first 
method  was  the  Oriental,  where  one  tribe 
conquered  another,  but  did  not  incorporate 
it.  Many  of  the  old  despotisms  in  the  val- 
leys of  the  Nile  and  Euphrates  originated  in 
that  way.  The  second  method  was  the 
Roman,  and  may  be  described  as  conquest 
with  incorporation.  The  secret  of  Rome's 
strength  lay  in  the  fact  that  she  incorporated 
the  people  she  had  vanquished  into  her  own 
body  politic.  In  that  way  the  whole  Medi- 
terranean world  was  under  one  government, 
but  it  failed  ultimately  in  that  it  lacked  the 
principle  of  representation,  and  therefore 
ended  in  despotism.  The  third  method  was 
the  English,  and  it  was  different  from  the 
Oriental  and  the  Roman  in  that  it  contained 
the  principle  of  representation.  That  was 
the  great  idea  struggling  for  supremacy  in 
the  Puritan  revolution  under  Cromwell  in 
England.  The  struggle  was  finally  trans- 
ferred by  the  Puritans  to  our  own  land  and 
found  its  highest  and  fullest  development 
in  our  own  day.  That  idea  John  Fiske  in- 
sists has  come  to  rule  and  come  to  stay. 

[217] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

Have  we  not  here  an  indication  of  the 
steps  to  be  taken  in  dealing  with  these  peo- 
ple? Conquest,  incorporation,  representa- 
tion. Conquer  them  by  the  power  of  the 
gospel,  incorporate  them  into  our  churches, 
not  set  them  apart  in  mission  halls,  and  then 
give  them  representation,  make  them  our 
representatives  to  their  own  people  the 
world  over.  The  continued  existence  of  our 
churches  in  many  localities  depends  on  do- 
ing just  that  thing.  Some  fine  old  historic 
buildings  in  great  cities  are  closed,  the  peo- 
ple who  once  worshiped  there  gone  to  heaven 
or  to  the  suburbs.  The  field  is  deserted  on 
the  ground  that  there  are  no  longer  any 
people  of  the  class  to  whom  we  have  been 
accustomed  to  minister  left  there.  Only 
another  way  of  saying  that  we  have  been 
ministering  to  a  class,  not  a  mass,  been  a 
club  not  a  church. 

The  same  is  true  in  some  rural  sections.  I 
recall  a  church  where  I  used  to  go  when  I 
was  a  boy  on  a  farm,  and  where  practically 
all  the  members  were  Scotch,  a  Scotch  Pres- 
byterian church.  There  were  the  Camerons, 
the  Creightons,  the  McBeths,  the  Monteiths, 
the  Mclntyres,  the  Mclntoshes,  the  Mac- 
Queens,  the  Robertsons,  and  the  Stewarts, 
and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  list.  After 
nearly  fifty  years  I  find  not  more  than  one 

[218] 


The  Stranger  Within  Our  Gates 

out  of  five  or  six  families  Scotch.  The 
farms  have  been  gradually  taken  up  by  the 
Swedes,  the  Dutch,  the  Poles,  the  Danes,  and 
the  Norwegians.  As  these  strangers  have 
come  into  the  region  through  the  years,  the 
official  men  of  that  church  have  given  them 
a  cordial  welcome  and  a  place.  It  still  is  a 
Scotch  Presbyterian  church,  though  only 
now  and  then  a  Scotchman  is  left.  The  con- 
tinued life  of  that  church  depended  on  re- 
adjusting itself  to  the  new  and  changed  con- 
ditions, the  thing  that  must  be  done  in  many 
other  places,  in  city,  town,  and  country. 
The  new  material  all  about  them  must  be 
laid  hold  of  and  assimilated.  "  But,"  said 
one  man,  "  our  people  would  hardly  care  to 
have  them  in  our  pews,"  and  doubtless  many 
others  feel  the  same  way.  The  existence  of 
your  church  may  depend  on  that  step,  and 
the  real  test  of  your  religion  may  come  along 
that  line  in  the  future. 

We  Have  in  these  Strangers,  finally.  Our 
Responsibility.  Austin  Phelps  in  his  last 
days  declared  that  the  immediate  evangeliza- 
tion of  our  own  country  would  mean  more 
for  the  redemption  of  the  whole  world  than 
that  of  any  similar  piece  of  territory.  So  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  evangelization  of  the 
Empire  State  with  more  than  ten  millions  of 
people  would  mean  more  to  the  redemption 

[219] 


Practical  Papers  on  Parish  Problems 

of  the  nation  than  that  of  any  other  section. 
Dwellers  along  the  Rhine  combine  their  in- 
terests, buy  portable  mills,  anchor  them  out 
in  the  stream,  and  take  their  grain  out  there 
for  grinding.  They  utilize  the  currents  of 
the  historic  river.  It  is  a  docile  servant, 
never  striking  for  higher  wages,  never  takes 
a  day  off,  and  never  gets  intoxicated  or  unfit 
for  service.  Standing  in  some  such  way 
amid  these  great  currents,  migrations  of  peo- 
ple, the  very  stars  in  their  courses  serve  us. 
Anyhow  when  there,  we  are  in  the  place  of 
duty,  and  the  man  or  woman  standing  in  the 
path  of  duty  is  in  the  highway  to  real  great- 
ness and  splendid  achievement  always. 


[  220  ] 


Date  Due 

»^ACULT1 

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